It’s a beautiful spring Sunday, my first day off in several weeks, and I can’t quite say that I am excited to wake up early to go into the office tomorrow morning.
However, this will be one of my last early Monday mornings. I have 5 more until I will no longer have Monday morning clinic. Ever, if things work out well.
I’m realizing that I probably need to make some tentative plans for how I will use my extra time out of the office.
On the one hand, I won’t be able to avoid work altogether. Mondays bring a lot of messages and patient emails, for issues that came up over the weekend. I expect I will be sitting at the computer for several hours on Mondays if I am not going to neglect my patients.
In theory, I would also like to use some of this time to get a little more reading in. A dedicated hour or so to look at the latest journals would probably make me feel a little better about keeping up with my work.
On the other hand, I am taking a pay cut by canceling my clinic time, so I’d like to spend the extra time doing something that will support my non-work life. In theory, I should take this time to pursue potential post-retirement interests, though right now I just want to get take care of all the things that are neglected when I am working long hours.
The list of potential ways to spend this day (mostly) off is long and varied and somewhat contradictory:
- Sleep in and feel more rested.
- Get more exercise, probably with an early morning walk in the summer. Or maybe an class of some sort.
- Attend morning services.
- Take a 3-day weekend to visit my mother (with an early Monday morning flight back).
- Take a 3-day weekend away with Mr. PiN.
- Spend a little time working on the house: decluttering, managing the garden (totally neglected in the past few years), maybe even attending to some house projects that have been put off for years.
- Socialize with some of my retired friends.
- Relearn how to relax at home off the computer.
- Perhaps even finally feel I have the time to pursue something off my curious list.
I am pretty sure I can manage 2 or 3 of these on any given Monday, but not all of them.
If you had an extra day off work, what would be on your list of ways to spend that day?
I’m so happy to see the curious list mentioned on your list of possibilities. When I dropped down to four days a week a couple of years before leaving my primary career, I had a big list of projects I wanted to take on, so I just started chipping away at them. As my day off was Friday, one of my main goals was to get errands and chores done so I could enjoy the weekend.
I know you’ll find the right rhythm for you to get the most out of this free time. You have the right mindset!