3648: Plan Microadventures to Make Your Weekend Feel Like a Vacation by Jay Harrington of Life and Whim

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[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00] This is Optimal Living Daily. Plan micro-adventures to make your weekend feel like a vacation. By Jay Harrington of LifeAndWim.com. And I'm Justin Mollig, your very own personal narrator today and every day. Me narrating means there are no interviews, just a short podcast where we can both improve our lives one day at a time. So with that, let's get right to today's post and start optimizing your life.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00] Plan micro-adventures to make your weekend feel like a vacation. By Jay Harrington of LifeAndWim.com. The typical overworked and overstressed American limps into most weekends. 5pm on Friday is a finish line that leads straight to the couch. The rest of the weekend is a blurry haze of obligations, errands, and other tasks that couldn't be accomplished during the work week.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00] Instead of going into Monday refreshed and recharged, we enter the new week just as exhausted as we left the previous one. The cycle repeats over and over, intermittently interrupted by vacation time. Thing is, we're not particularly good about taking vacations. The Society for Human Resource Management found that while employees who take more vacation are happier and more productive, the average worker took only 17 days off in 2017.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00] Another survey found that the average U.S. employee takes only half of their allotted vacation time. Moreover, in today's 24-7, always-on work culture, vacation often means merely working off-site. When vacation is done right, that is, when it's a real disconnect from work, the time away results in many benefits. Stress reduction.

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00] The American Psychological Association found that vacations reduce stress by removing people from the activities and environments that they associate with stress and anxiety. Cardiovascular health. A study found that men who are at risk for heart disease who skip vacations for five consecutive years were 30% more likely to suffer heart attacks than those who took at least a week off each year. Increased productivity. Studies by Ernst & Young and Boston Consulting Group

[00:03:16] [SPEAKER_00] concluded that those who take more vacations tend to be significantly more productive at work. And sleep. Studies have shown that frequent vacations can improve sleep by interrupting the patterns, such as late nights at the office, that lead to poor sleeping habits. Beyond the health and wellness benefits, vacation is simply fun. It's an opportunity to step out of the everyday grind and have new, interesting experiences.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00] Treat your weekend as a vacation. Rather than waiting all year for a two-week vacation to roll around, why not realize these benefits during the two-day vacation that's waiting for you every weekend? In our experience, there are two distinctly different types of weekends. The first is the type that you stumble into with little thought or planning. Saturday morning rolls around and when the question, what do you want to do this weekend, is posed to the family, is met with shrugged shoulders.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00] Time is spent online looking for events and activities, and before you know it, everyone defaults into the same old routine. The second variety is one you look forward to with excited anticipation. It's fun, fulfilling, and adventurous. There's structure because you've planned ahead, but also room for spontaneity. The days are interesting and often leave you tired but satisfied, just like on a vacation. It's not always possible because, of course, we all have obligations that get in the way.

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00] But approaching the weekend as if it was a vacation can help break up monotony and routine and make life happier and more fulfilling. A group of researchers recently put this hypothesis to a test. They conducted a study with 400 participants in which they asked one group to treat a weekend as a vacation and the other to treat it like a regular weekend. The results were clear. Those who treated the weekend as if it was a vacation were significantly happier

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00] when Monday arrived than those that didn't. The researchers found that while the two groups of people engaged in different activities, the bigger impact came from a shift in mindset among the quote-unquote vacationers. They were, quote, more mindful of and attentive to the present moment throughout their weekend's activities, end quote. Plan more micro-adventures. One of the most important things to keep in mind if you're looking to get more out of your weekend is to keep things simple.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00] You don't need to create grandiose, time-consuming, and expensive plans to get the benefits. Yes, we all need more adventure in our lives, but micro-adventures will do just fine. Author, speaker, and world traveler Alistair Humphreys is a big proponent of micro-adventures, which he describes as, quote,

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00] This escape, especially when kids are involved, can be overwhelming. But engaging in simple, close-to-home micro-adventures is something we all have access to. You just listened to the post titled, Plan Micro-Adventures to Make Your Weekend Feel Like a Vacation, by Jay Harrington of lifeandwhim.com. And I'll be right back with my commentary.

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[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00] Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash old. Go to shopify.com slash OLD. Shopify.com slash old. Thank you to Jay. So true how weekends can just become a blurry haze of errands and obligations if we don't put a little thought into them. It's easy to think we need to plan some big, expensive trip to get that vacation feeling,

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER_00] but these small, local adventures can make a huge difference. It reminds me of something I started doing a while back. I've been going to these Tai Chi classes, and for a while I just drive there. You know, the usual routine. But then I started walking instead. That simple change turned the whole thing into a bit of a micro-adventure for me. If the walk itself breaks up the day, and because I'm moving slower and not just focused on traffic, I notice more.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_00] It's a small thing, but it added a new layer to my routine. I think that's what Jay is talking about. It's not about grand plans. It's about that shift in mindset, about being more mindful and attentive to the present moment, right where we are. Just hiking a new trail or walking instead of driving can be enough to break the cycle and make the weekend feel a little more special and fulfilling. Definitely a good reminder to look for those simple adventures. So thank you to Jay,

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_00] and thank you for being here and listening every day. Have a great weekend, and I'll catch you tomorrow as usual, where your optimal life awaits.