ADHD · fitness · rest

What Christine’s Sunday looked like…

Christine Hennebury

Because time can be a messy concept for me, I sometimes end up with a weird jumble of tasks to do on my weekend – loose bits and pieces from all kinds of projects, stuff that needs to be done around the house…you know the kind of stuff I mean.

This Sunday, though, I was determined that I wasn’t going to let that jumble take over my day.

Instead, I alternated between relaxing and puttering my way through my list for the day.

A photo my legs and feet while I lie in the hammock
Checking off ‘Read in hammock’ on my to-do list. image description: a photo I took of my POV while lying in the hammock. As the photo shows, I could see a corner of my ereader on my lap, my legs in green capri pants crossed at the ankles, my feet in sandals, part of the hammock, and in the background is my circular swing, trees, my backyard and my patio.

In order to get enough relaxing in, I actually put the following items on my list for the day;

  1. Read in hammock
  2. Read in chair on deck
  3. Read in chair under tree
  4. Stare at tree while lying in hammock

Is it a bit weird to put those things on a to-do list?

Maybe.

But I also know that if I don’t put stuff like that on my list, my brain won’t rest while I try to relax.

Instead, it will churn up all the things I *should* be doing and my rest will be ruined.

So if I put fun, relaxing things on my list, my brain is satisfied that my list isn’t being ignored and it lets me read, and putter, and enjoy a slow day.

(By the way, this isn’t about my brain insisting that I have to be productive. My brain just worries that I will forget about my tasks and end up having to scramble later. I guess it’s trying to protect me even as it gets on my nerves?)

Can you just choose rest?

Or do you have to coax your brain into the process like I do?

A selfie of me and my dog, she is standing next to me while I lie in the hammock
Here I am listening to a secret from Khalee. It must have been VERY serious business – I forgot to smirk. Image description: a selfie taken while I was lying in the hammock but only my head and part of my right arm are in the frame. Khalee, my light brown dog, is poking her snout up over the edge of the hammock and it looks like she is whispering in my ear.

Published by Christine Hennebury

I'm a writer/storyteller/director/creativity & lifestory coach with a black belt in ITF Taekwon-do. I read voraciously and I write like my fingers are on fire. I'm the founder and Chair of the Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl and I'm a former president of the St. John's Storytelling Festival. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie.

One thought on “What Christine’s Sunday looked like…”

  1. What a great system! I don’t actually have any trouble settling down with a book or puzzle, but identifying that time as satisfying a checklist item might make it even more pleasant.

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