Hubs and I were sitting last night, planning out the week, as is our Sunday night usual, and I asked him how he was doing… also a Sunday night usual. He replied with his customary Sunday night moan/groan combo expressing his exhaustion and disgruntlement over having to return to work Monday morning. I feel the same sentiments. This is our routine. And in that moment, I realized two things for the first time: 1) WOW, we are VERY routine; and 2) that there has NEVER been, in the history of Our Weekends together, a Sunday evening when one of us answered that we felt rested, refreshed, re-energized, and ready to face the week ahead! Not once! Not even when on vacation! Not even before we had kids (ok, I can’t really remember that far back but I assume I felt this back then, too).
I have friends who are weekend Go-Getters and Doers. They fill their weekends with all sorts of fun Day Trips, Festivals, Travel, Hiking, Sporting Events – both the kid and Pro varieties, they get out and DO STUFF. If anyone invited me to do these things on a weekend, I would probably throw something at them then turn-tail and run to the closest hole to hide in (think zombie apocalypse). My weekends are for hibernating. I’m trying to feel rested. I’m trying to get caught up on all the stuff I didn’t accomplish during the week. I can’t wrap my head around the idea that getting out and LIVING LIFE would help me to feel rested or caught up. The girls played Soccer last Fall and having to go to the multiple games every weekend nearly killed me! Now we’re back to weekday afternoon athletics so our weekends stay free(ish).
I think I’m missing something though. Something BIG, like a secret. I’m just not sure what it is… I used to believe the issue of feeling less than weekend satisfied was simply needing longer weekends like they have in many European countries. But we just had an entire Summer off and we STILL felt exhausted, overwhelmed and not caught up! In fact, we got even more behind because we DID get out to do all sorts of fun things (which required a lot of work) and now we have a garage full of camping equipment in varying degrees of cleaned out, waiting for us to find time to put away, on top of the usual chores we feel overwhelmed by.
I’m left wondering if this is NORMAL. Is it just US and we’re doing it wrong? Is it a Midlife thing? Do the Go-Getters and Doers feel the same sense of unrest and exhaustion at the end of their action packed weekends?
Share with me, what do you do with your weekends and how do you feel on Sunday nights?
Before kids I actually joined a Sunday evening bowling league (still have the glittery purple ball and matching shoes!) simple to distract myself from thinking about Monday mornings.
Now with kids, I too like to chill on weekends, feeling horrible for parents with kids in those early morning/endless sports games weekends. My kiddos also love to chill and be lazy, so we try to do ONE seasonal/family activity a month.
As long as I exercise once on the weekend, do a minor house or organizing project, and probably have an Open House to hold, I consider myself refreshed. My best weekends are when my hubby and I are so tired because we got a sitter and went out and PARTIED!! Because we are still young (haha), we are in love, and our lives are not *all* about our kids. Yes we do adore them though 🙂
Glittery Purple!!! (Swoon!) LOVE the look! And, what great ideas, to create a fun Sunday Night tradition that distracts, and doing a monthly seasonal activity!
Thanks for stopping by!
I’m a preferred weekend hibernator as well. There’s a part of me that does feel jealous seeing everyone out and about and doing “fun” things. Then, I remember, I have three kids and something “fun” with them is a lot of WORK for us. We don’t always enjoy a day out with the family, which I have mom guilt over. But, the kids are/can be overwhelming, and why go out and get stressed? And yes, there’s always tons to catch up on around the house that gets filed away under “don’t have the time” during the week… You’re not alone!
Hello fellow Weekend Hibernator! I’m so glad to know I’m not alone ;o)! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!