A little R&R
This past weekend, I did something shocking. I relaxed.
Now, this may sound like a normal thing to do on a weekend. It may sound even more normal if I tell you Monday was a holiday here in Chile, and on top of that, Rodolfo was out of town. Relaxing on a three-day weekend when it’s just you and the dog – what could be more normal?
Well, I don’t really relax. Which isn’t to say I don’t do fun things. I do, I just schedule them. Even my reading time has become competitive since I joined GoodReads and gave myself a reading goal for the year. With so many things to do, there’s no time to just sit around, or all those fun things I have on my agenda will never get done!
Yes, I fully admit this sounds crazy. Which is why, this weekend, when I felt like just chilling out, I went with it. Even though I had classes to do, blog posts to write, emails to send, I decided it was probably more important for my development as a normal human being to actually relax for a change.
I read, even though all the books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series (think “Game of Thrones”) are so ridiculously long that they’re totally messing with my aforementioned reading goal. I had the fleeting thought that I might like a facial and just picked up the phone and made an appointment for later that day without thinking twice. I took Lola to the park and enjoyed some precious mid-winter sunshine.
Of course now I’m behind on classes/blogging/emails, but it was worth it. I learned to relax! I don’t expect this lesson to stick with me for long, but it was fun while it lasted.
I always forget to relax…sometimes even to breathe haha. But, marrying a Latin has helped with remembering how important it is to just be for a bit.
I definitely thought of our conversation while relaxing last weekend and while writing this post. Maybe Rodolfo’s finally getting through to me!
as someone who has the same problem, i’m proud of you for relaxing! now i’m going to go start all my weekend tasks, hahaha
Thank you! Don’t worry, this weekend it’s been back to the grindstone
It is so funny your blog is about relaxing. My work team had to read the following ‘How to relax’ webpage as we deal with a lot of negatice complaints day in and day out….
apparently you get better at it by learning how to relax. My Chilean hubby says his head spins just seeing how many things I can do at once 
http://www.wikihow.com/Relax
I just got stressed reading everything I had to do to try and relax…jajajaja
Good on you Emily for trying
I love it! I actually downloaded a relaxation app when I first got my iPad, but listening to some British man say “relax, relax, relax” over and over again creeped me out more than it relaxed me.
I just started quitting blogging/emailing on weekends. I highly recommend it, no one should be working on a Saturday.
I often feel like I’m less stressed if I use a Saturday morning to catch up on everything I’ve ignored during the week thanks to my day job, but I also have those weekends where I just want to unplug. And surprisingly enough, the world hasn’t ended yet, so I guess the internet CAN survive without me for a day!
Who are you and what have you done with the real Emily?
Don’t worry, she’s back – worked most of this past weekend on various errands/work/blog stuff
I would love to see you and meet Lola at your next park excursion! I’ll be here in Santiago through August 9th!
I’ll send you an email. Enjoy your time in Santiago!
I can’t remember the last time I relaxed on a weekend – I’m always working. I have on my to do list here to look into day spas in town so John and I can take a Saturday and do what you did – sounds divine!
Hope you guys find a good place!
I love weekends like that! I always plan things ahead so if im lazy for 3 days is bc it’s raining or im sick. lately all I want to do is sleep!! for hours!!!! I’m finally reading the hunger games (#1)! Loving it!!
Oooh, The Hunger Games sucks you in for sure. I hope you have some free time this weekend to read!
Sooo get this and I’ve gotten way to fixated on the computer, going to work on ‘getting a life’ as they say rather than work all the time!
Computers are so wonderful and so evil at the same time.