”I’m taking the day off, both tomorrow and Sunday!” Mrs. Denmarkguy declared, last night.
Sounds like a plan!
I’d like to think we all enjoy having ”a day off,” and we can discuss at length whether we get enough of them, or whether we can have one when we want one… but I got to thinking about what ”A Day Off” actually looks like, and how it will likely have vastly different meanings to different people.
For Mrs. Denmarkguy, a day off means she’ll be nowhere near the Internet and having answer people/clients’ eternal questions, and likely she’ll pop popcorn, surround herself with snacks and cats, and binge watch some show she’s been meaning to watch.
Naturally, I’ll encourage her, and bring her snack refills.
Alas, I will not be joining her, because watching TV does not feel like a ”day off” to me. For the most part, watching TV does not make my brain relax and go slack, it makes me feel brain DEAD. In other words, it’s not a pleasant feeling… besides, my eyes start hurting and I get a headache after 2-3 hours.
That has been true for me for a very long time... and it's slightly odd because I spend much longer in front of a computer screen, every day. But I am not trying to be entertained by that... I am working.
For me, the feeling of a day off is that I get to do whatever I want — including the very things I do on work days — except there will be no goal, purpose, structure or urgency to what I’ll actually do… and no pressure to make sure that what I do today will generate income tomorrow.
Which is the normal thought pattern I live with, as a self-employed individual.
So, a day off means not having to be useful or to have a planned purpose. It also means not having to worry about getting to the post office or the bank before they close at 5:00, or worry about whether I have made the grocery list… and various other ”functional” things.
Because I have worked for myself for so long — and my hobbies are essentially my work — I have become pretty good at separating ”functional” work from just ”messing around.”
I will — most likely — also take a day off, or maybe two.
Some of that might — to an outside observer — look like I’m working, but if I am doing something I enjoy, and there’s no goal, point or objective involved, then it feels like a day off, to me.
As I said, we each have our own personal definitions.
Many many moons ago, when I would be part of an assortment of self-development and spiritual groups and workshops, one of the topics often discussed was this idea that when you are doing the right thing in life (work wise) your work doesn’t actually feel like work.
My work does feel like work when there is pressure to produce an income, but not like work when there is not. What feels like work is the sense of obligation, not the actual work, itself.
Perhaps these are excessively subtle differences for most… and likely they are more apropos when you’re self-employed and working from home. Baically, I would be taking the day off from obligations, not from activities.
So how did it work out for me?
Pretty well, all told. What I enjoyed the most was perhaps that I could just let my ADHD tendencies wander in whatever direction they wanted... as a result of which spent a little time here, then a little time there, and then a little time somewhere else.
And just for grins, yes I did watch a little TV with Mrs. Denmarkguy. A little...
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you have an amazing Sunday!
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Created at 2025.02.08 01:04 PST
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