WEBVTT - Your best long weekend ever

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about some strategies you can use to

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<v Speaker 1>create your best long weekend ever. This episode is first

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<v Speaker 1>airing at the start of Memorial Day weekend in the US,

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<v Speaker 1>which is widely viewed as the official start of summer.

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<v Speaker 1>Monday is a holiday, and many people have a half

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<v Speaker 1>day planned on Friday as well. If you're listening to

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<v Speaker 1>this and you've got a trip somewhere exciting, great, But

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<v Speaker 1>if you don't, or you're curious about how to savor

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<v Speaker 1>your time in general during future long weekends, here are

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<v Speaker 1>some ideas that have been helpful for me and might

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<v Speaker 1>be for you too. First, I like to make a

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<v Speaker 1>mental map of the weekend. Back when I was dealing

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<v Speaker 1>with kidnap times, I began thinking of a weekend as

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<v Speaker 1>consisting of five spots Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday post nap,

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<v Speaker 1>Sunday morning, and Sunday post nap. Now that I'm beyond

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<v Speaker 1>the nap stage, this is evolved to Friday night, Saturday day,

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<v Speaker 1>Saturday night, Sunday day, and Sunday night. For a long

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<v Speaker 1>weekend simply add Monday day and Monday night to the mix.

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<v Speaker 1>So for a long weekend, we likely have seven chunks

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<v Speaker 1>of time to assign, and yes, hanging out at the

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<v Speaker 1>house is completely fine to assign for some of them,

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<v Speaker 1>but you probably don't want to do that for all seven.

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<v Speaker 1>It's good to have a balance and to treat some

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<v Speaker 1>of this extended time off as a little special. That

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<v Speaker 1>brings us to the question of what makes a good weekend.

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<v Speaker 1>We all have our own special recipes. Personally, I like

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<v Speaker 1>to do a date night, eating out somewhere, fancy a

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<v Speaker 1>long run, singing with my choir at church, and then

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<v Speaker 1>some sort of family adventure like going to a botanical

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<v Speaker 1>garden or the zoo or a bike ride. This mix

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<v Speaker 1>of four things doesn't happen every weekend, but if a

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<v Speaker 1>weekend does have those four components, I know I'll hit

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<v Speaker 1>the work week thinking wow, that was pretty good. There's

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<v Speaker 1>actually some research about what activities make people happiest. For

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<v Speaker 1>one study, researchers had a slew of people record how

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<v Speaker 1>they were feeling as they went about their days at

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<v Speaker 1>certain times when they were asked to report on how

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<v Speaker 1>they were feeling. Now, you may not be surprised to

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<v Speaker 1>learn that people were in the best moods during what

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<v Speaker 1>the researchers called intimate activities, though we can all ponder

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<v Speaker 1>the image of these people pausing in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>such things while they recorded their feelings for research purposes.

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<v Speaker 1>In any case, a few other activities consistently hit the

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<v Speaker 1>top of the scale. People loved socializing, believe it or not.

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<v Speaker 1>They liked exercising too. They felt quite good while engaged

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<v Speaker 1>in spiritual activities. So for any weekend, long or regular,

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<v Speaker 1>you could think about these major categories. I recommend doing

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<v Speaker 1>something social, something physical, and something spiritual. Social is pretty straightforward,

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<v Speaker 1>a barbecue with friends at your house maybe, or brunch

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<v Speaker 1>with extended family. Physical is straightforward were two, though a

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<v Speaker 1>long weekend allows for slightly more adventurous ideas. Instead of

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<v Speaker 1>just doing a thirty minute run around your neighborhood, you

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<v Speaker 1>could go for a four hour hike in a nearby

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<v Speaker 1>state park, or rent canoes and paddle down a local

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<v Speaker 1>river with your family. I interpret the category of spiritual

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<v Speaker 1>activities broadly. It could certainly mean going to worship services,

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<v Speaker 1>but for people who aren't part of an organized religious community,

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<v Speaker 1>it could mean anything that elevates your soul. You could

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<v Speaker 1>volunteer somewhere and thus be part of something bigger than yourself.

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<v Speaker 1>You could do a longer meditation session, read devotional or

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<v Speaker 1>inspirational literature, are go taking something awe inspiring, like shooting

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<v Speaker 1>stars while you're camped far from city lights. So map

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<v Speaker 1>out what you and the people you spend weekends with

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<v Speaker 1>would like to do in these three categories. Figure out

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<v Speaker 1>which of the seven long weekend slots you're can assign

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<v Speaker 1>them to. Then, and this is just as important. We

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<v Speaker 1>need to minimize the time spent on half two dous

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<v Speaker 1>and these are just part of life. Even in the

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<v Speaker 1>best weekend ever, you might still need to run to

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<v Speaker 1>an a t M or put gas in your car.

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<v Speaker 1>In a previous episode of Before Breakfast, I recommended doing

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<v Speaker 1>chores and errands during the work week in order to

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<v Speaker 1>maximize family and leisure time on the weekend. But if

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<v Speaker 1>that's not happening and the grocery, shopping and laundry need

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<v Speaker 1>to get done, I recommend setting a specific window for

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<v Speaker 1>these things. If you walk around the whole weekend thinking

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<v Speaker 1>I need to clean my house, you'll feel miserable. You'll

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<v Speaker 1>do inefficient bits here and there, so the housework bleeds

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<v Speaker 1>into everything or else. You'll constantly feel guilty about not

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<v Speaker 1>doing it. But if you assign yourself a time, say

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<v Speaker 1>Sunday from three to five thirty p m. Before your

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<v Speaker 1>volunteer session at the food bank, then you can stop

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<v Speaker 1>thinking about it. If you find yourself looking at your

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<v Speaker 1>pile of dirty clothes on Saturday morning, you can tell

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<v Speaker 1>yourself there's a time for laundry, and now is not

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<v Speaker 1>that time, so you're free to relax and read a book,

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<v Speaker 1>or t your kids to the park or whatever you've

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<v Speaker 1>decided to do. So that's my advice for planning a

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<v Speaker 1>great long weekend. I'd love to hear about your recipe

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<v Speaker 1>for making the most of your time off. As always,

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<v Speaker 1>you can email me at Before Breakfast Podcast at I

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<v Speaker 1>heart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at

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<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number four then Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

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<v Speaker 1>at Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com

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<v Speaker 1>that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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