Ep. 506: Find a Delight for Each Day, a Useful Travel Tip & Learning from Mistakes
Gretchen Rubin: “We explore ways to make each day of the week special by recognizing small pleasures. In episode 506 of the “Happier” podcast, my sister Elizabeth and I realized that I’m a Monday person, and she’s a Friday person. “
Listen here: https://apple.co/3UvJLwR
I love this idea of thinking about what makes each day special and I confess that with Gretchen, I also love Mondays. I love the fresh start and I usually come at Mondays with lots of energy and ambition. I often ride my bike on the trainer on Mondays–it’s the Herd’s Monday Morning Coffee Crew, an easy paced 45 min ride to kick the week off right. Monday evening I either do a course ride over of the route for Tuesday’s race with my Zwift teammates or I go to physio.
Tuesday is my all out work and exercise day. It’s a Big Day. There’s personal training with lots of weight lifting with Sarah in the early morning and it’s also my big meeting day, a full morning of senior administration, leadership team meetings. Tuesday night is race night with the Zwift Racing League. Go go go! Then crash!
What’s special about Wednesdays? Rest days! I sleep in a little and do some grading and class prep in the morning and teach all afternoon this semester, 230-530 pm. I might commute by bike or walk the dog but that’s about it for physical activity. Wednesday, I’m also often home alone in the evening–Sarah stays in Toronto for the symphony–and I enjoy a quiet night with a book or a favourite TV show, eat simple food, and hop into PJs very early.
Thursdays are my second biggest work days, right after Tuesday, It’s when we hold our Dean’s Council meetings with the chairs and directors of the departments and schools in the College of Arts. It’s also the day when I’m most likely to eat lunch with colleagues and go to academic talks if I can fit them in. By Thursday the work is definitely starting to weigh on us and it’s the day I’m most likely to order in dinner. Exercise is either bike commuting, dog walking, and home physio, or my favourite Zwift race of all, the team time trial. Thursday is the WTRL and Zwift, TTT. I love it.
TGIF! Friday is another personal training day bright and early in the morning. I try to be my Fridays flexible in case I want to work from Toronto. My meetings are usually held virtually and the day isn’t jam packed. I actually get some stuff done. Our Tafelmusik tickets are for Friday nights and sometimes I leave campus early and take the 3 pm train to Toronto, work on the train, and grab dinner before the concert.
Saturdays all depend where we are. Often, in the summer months, we’re camping or travelling or off on our bikes. Sometimes we’re at the farm. But the best weekend days begin with French Toast. I love French Toast so much that, before we had personal training on Fridays, we had French Toast Fridays. We kicked the weekend off early thanks to my friend Tim who first posted about French Toast Fridays. Now they’re back to a weekend treat. Weekends are a mix of indoor and outdoor chores and fun things. The trick is getting the balance right.
I confess that I sometimes feel that I’m terrible at weekends. I know Saturday is supposed to be the best day and everyone loves weekends but I also like a plan and structure and sometimes I never quite get into the weekend groove. Saturdays especially can be stressful. I liked them best when I either had Aikido + lunch to kick off the weekend, or a long group bike ride. Or when I’m away travelling. But being at home, without a plan, can be strangely stressful.
A good Saturday thing is the morning base building ride that some Zwift teams have. They’re longish and chatty on Discord.
Sundays we often ride bikes, indoor or outdoors, and then start getting ready for the week ahead. Sundays are good days for long walks with dog. When I’m teaching I often settle into reading, class prep, and grading on Sunday afternoons. I feel like I do better on Sundays than Saturdays. My fave Sundays are when my eldest adult kid stops for Sunday dinner on her way home to London from her job at Trails. Love Sunday big family dinner as a tradition and as a Sunday thing.
Happiness experts say to treat the weekends like mini-vacations. I think maybe they’re on to something.
Listen to Gretchen Rubin’s podcast and let me know. Do you have a favourite day? Do different things make different days special to you? What’s the rhythm of our week?
Sundays when I’m in NYC are my mini vacation day, if I keep my promise to myself and don’t overschedule. I lie in bed a long time, reading whatever novel I’m immersed in. Make myself a decadent and delicious frittata and then go and dance 5Rhythms for 2 hours. The rest of the afternoon is, ideally, more time horizontal with a book (or movie or series–highly recommend the italian Netflix series–The Law According to Lidia Poet).
I’ve heard that’s great.