Do you change your routine on the weekends? It might help more than you think.
You don't need us to tell you that this is hard. What we're doing right now (while it's extremely important to public health), is definitely putting a strain on our mental health. Plus, without our usual weekly checkpoints, we can begin to lose track of the days, making it even more disorientating. I don't know about you, but feeling like each day blends into the next without much changing definitely has a massive effect on my mood.
Changing my routine on the weekends is something that has made a massive difference to my time spent in quarantine. It's allowed me to have a more solid sense of the week passing and gives me something to look forward to when I'm having a bad day during the week.
Here are three simple things I do to make my weekends feel extra special:
Wear something completely different.
If I've spent the week in activewear, I'll wear something a bit different to mark the weekend - like a comfortable dress or jumpsuit. Even if I won't be going out and going anywhere special, it makes me feel like I'm still having a "weekend" where I can wear something other than practical clothes. Don't forget your biggest pair of earrings!
Make a "fakeaway".
Weekends are times that I make a little bit of extra effort with my food. Having a bit of extra time allows me to prep my meals properly and I take my time choosing what I'd like to cook. I get such a kick out of being able to cook my favourite takeaway meals from scratch, so every weekend I try to find a meal I love that I haven't made before and give it a go. Knowing that I have a delicious, tasty new meal to look forward to each weekend really gets me through the working week! (If you have kids at home, make sure you have a backup plan for them in case they don't like what you're cooking!)
Have an activity that you save up for the weekend.
Whether it's making a cocktail (or mocktail), journalling or even dancing in your kitchen, think of an activity you love but only do it on the weekend. While you should, of course, be doing little things that make you happy every single day, having something lovely to look forward to at the weekend will give you that extra bit of motivation to help you through the week. It can be hard to put ourselves first at times, but a massive part of taking care of those around us is making sure that we're taking care of ourselves, so make this little act of self love every weekend a non-negotiable.
What are your favourite weekend quarantine activities?
