Making Time for Yourself: A Day Off

My travel schedule is already in full swing, which means a constant state of feeling behind and getting done only what needs to get done at the studio. It also means I'm not home much, so when Dan suggested taking Friday off together I knew that was exactly what I needed.

Why is a day off different from a weekend? For us weekends are still full of responsibility... groceries, laundry, and the like. Dan is also a screen printing studio monitor at Lillstreet Art Center on Saturday afternoons, so sometimes the weekends feel compressed even more. We also usually want to catch up with friends.

A day off is a secret. No one except your co-workers knows you are taking a day off. It's the perfect day to sleep in without guilt and let the day unfold before you. There are no set plans! That's certainly what we learned on Friday. Our initial thoughts involved dog beach, going to the movies, and biking, but we woke up on Friday (rather late) to a cold rainy day.

We made a nice breakfast and decided to still take Iris to the Montrose dog beach. We have two dogs, but Peeve has embraced old dog-hood. She has developed a fear of the car and much prefers to stay inside. So we left her on her dog bed with a rawhide to make her feel special, and off we went to the lake with Iris.

Iris is a dog who knows how to embrace the "now," our theme for the day. Despite being 13 years old, and despite the biting wind, she still decided that she must run along the waterfront. That's all she does at the beach. She runs laps barking at the waves until she is hoarse. All the other dogs thinks she's weird, which is fine by her because she's not very social. We think she's just trying to tell the lake what's what, but it never listens.

For those of us who were not covered in fur, the lake was a little chilly... we were ready to move on to another cup of coffee or at least a warm car. We corralled Iris and started driving, fully expecting to hit a Starbucks. But then Dan had a brainstorm... it's 11:45, why not go to Hot Doug's for lunch? Hot Doug's is the Chicago destination for encased meats, from a basic Chicago dog to a gourmet alligator sausage. We were hoping for not much line on a Friday; at that point it was only about 20 minutes (if you've never been there, be prepared to wait an hour or more!) to wait or so and we fit inside, our only criteria.

We both opted for crazy chicken sausage concoctions from the specials board. Dan's was the really crazy one with Thai peanut sauce and coconut involved. Mine was an apple rosemary combination with rosemary infused mustard and gouda cheese. We were satisfied but also vowed to only get a special from now on if we really want it, not just to experience it... the offerings on the regular board are really tasty and we should explore those more.

The rest of the day was simple enough. We wandered home and rented a video (Dan's pick: "The Mist." He should be really embarrassed that I'm mentioning that in public. Enough said.). We decided to pursue a cup of coffee after all, which took us on a walk to The Grind in Lincoln Square. While there we stopped into a couple of our favorite places: The Dressing Room, Fleet Feet Sports, and The Book Cellar before making our way home for the evening dog walk. The day felt pretty full to us, so we stayed in for the evening where we made a simple dinner and binge-watched two episodes of Battlestar Galactica (we are still catching up on DVD).

At the end of it all? I felt refreshed and resolved to delegate more of the business work that bogs me down in the studio.

Comments

[jan wilson]

it's so true, days off during the week are truly special. i had a girlfriend that would call me and beg me to take a "mental health" day. i was supposed to take the day off and come play with her. so after reading your post, i'm ready to take my "secret mental health day" very soon.