Kia ora everyone! I was invited by @dora381 to do this challenge so, here it goes!

I’d like to introduce a twist to this challenge and imagine my three-day ideal weekend. Why, you wonder? I’m hoping we, in New Zealand, are not too far away from moving to a four-day workweek which means sometime in the future we could have a three-day weekend! Exciting!!!

My mind is going wild thinking about the things I can do just by having that extra day of not having to go to work.

However, if I’m being realistic and pragmatic, I honestly will just spread out my weekend activities a little bit better. For example, having brunch catch-ups on days other than Sunday, or go out for happy hour with mates on Thursday evening instead of Friday (wow that sounds wrong), or even just having the time to do absolutely nothing for an entire day.

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A Rough Agenda of My Ideal Weekend

Roughly speaking, my ideal long weekend looks like this:

Thursday

Theme of the night: fun 🎉🎊

Obviously the weekend starts when work finishes so I have to include Thursday night assuming I get Fridays off. I imagine that I can have a loud and crazy night out 💃 OR have an absolutely splendid time just staying in to watch a movie or play board games 🤓 Either work for me if I have the energy 🤣

Friday

Theme of the day: adventure 🌞🚵‍♀🥘

The possibilities are endless for Fridays but ultimately it will be a full day of being a social butterfly 🦋 My goal is to do something that nurtures my relationship with my friends and family so I can:

• be outdoors
• eat somewhere or something new
• go on a day-trip

Saturday

Theme of the day: productive 📈

Back to being a responsible adult! On this day I must meal prep, go grocery shopping and do my house chores. I can't skip them or else I will feel totally out of balance and disorganised for the entire week.

If I feel like it I can also do something creative 🎨🖊 I haven't feel very artsy recently but I definitely have started writing more so maybe I'll write something for HIVE? 😁

Sunday

Theme of the day: rest 😴

Ahh, this will be THE BEST DAY. It is the day of ✨self-care✨ I can meditate, journal, read, learn and most importantly nap!

To put myself in a restful mood, I'll light up a candle, or turn on my essential oil diffuser, play my favourite lo-fi playlist, and make some hot tea. It will feel like I am on a solo getaway! I wish I have a bathtub because I will definitely take a long bath too if I have one.

I love these as they help to reset myself before going back to work and allow me to reconnect and nurture my relationship with myself ❤️

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How is it Different to My Weekend Currently?

Currently, you can find me doing roughly the same things as what I’ve just described as my ideal weekend. The main difference is how frequently I do active and social activities because I tend to gravitate towards having a quiet, peaceful and restful weekend.

I try to rotate between spending the weekend mostly socialising and being outdoors, or mostly chilling out at home and do whatever I want indoors. It’s honestly a constant struggle to balance between the two especially when I have already exhausted my social energy during the week. Gosh, I’m conscious that I sound really boring to some of you but I promise that I am energetic and fun!!!

Weekends are when I try to keep my social calendar as free as possible but if I have been too much like a hermit and need to catch up with friends, I will at least keep Sunday somewhat free to do absolutely nothing.

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I Want More Time Doing What Makes Me Feel Alive

If we do have long weekends, I anticipate that I would just use the extra time off to do more of the things that fill my cup and fulfill me. Ideally, I would do activities like:

• Creatively express myself either through writing, art, cooking or any other way,
• Learn a new language - currently I’m learning Moroccan Arabic,
• Meaningfully connect with others while being outdoors or doing a physical activity,
• Watch native birds.

Now that I’ve worked full time for a couple of years, it is obvious how time and energy are finite resources. Sometimes I wish I can be like my grandparents, who are functioning optimally with roughly six hours (or less) of sleep but I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) am not at that level yet. I still need between 8-10 hours of sleep 🙂🙃

At the moment, I carve out pockets of time each weekday to do more than just work, eat, screen-time, sleep (and repeat). I don’t have the patience or tolerance to wait for the weekend to do what makes me happy. I seriously need that daily dose of serotonin! ✨

How Many More Weekends Do I have Left in My Life?

Reflecting on this topic makes me consider whether or not I have been spending my weekends in the way I want. And more broadly about whether or not I am happy with the way I am spending my time (i.e. life) and whether I am making the right micro-choices to lead a fulfilling life.

After some calculation (see formula here), I only have 2,548 weekends left if I continue to work 9-5 until I am 76 years old. That's around 64% remaining weekends available for me. Hmm, that doesn’t sound very long…

Generally speaking, I do feel content with my life and where I am at in life right now. But quantifying how much time I have left does remind me that life is so short and we could die anytime 😭

Everyone, let's do more of what makes us feel alive! Would you join me?

How many more weekends left do you have? What is one thing you want to do more of in your life right now?