1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:15,640 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: tip is that if life has been feeling a little busy, 4 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: you might choose to plan a night of nothing as 5 00:00:23,360 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: a chance to recharge. It is impossible to actually do nothing, 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: but having no scheduled commitments can sometimes be nice. If 7 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,919 Speaker 1: you've been listening to Before Breakfast for a while, you know, 8 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: I love the idea of planning little adventures into life. 9 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: Especially if your life features a lot of have to dos. 10 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: It's important to put in some want to dos alongside 11 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:52,760 Speaker 1: those things. But if you've got a lot of community commitments, kids, sports, 12 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: and so forth, sometimes life can start to feel very full. 13 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: There is downtime, perhaps after your commitments are done in 14 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,960 Speaker 1: the evening, but it doesn't feel like as much as 15 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: you want. That's where a night of nothing comes in. 16 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:12,720 Speaker 1: I recently encountered this term night of nothing to describe 17 00:01:12,720 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: an intentionally planned night for staying home and chilling. Now again, 18 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: to be clear, I have seen thousands of time logs, 19 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: and I can tell you that most people do a 20 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: so called night of nothing again and again. It looks 21 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:30,840 Speaker 1: like the routine of dinner, getting kids to bed if 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: you have kids, and then watching TV or doing some 23 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: other sort of screen time. Most people could massively benefit 24 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,760 Speaker 1: from joining some sort of community activity that would involve 25 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: leaving the house once a week and planning in little 26 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: adventures to break up the monotony. But if you happen 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: to be in a season of life where most evenings 28 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: are spoken for, then you might like to proactively plan 29 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:57,080 Speaker 1: in what we will call a night of nothing here 30 00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: and there. For some families, this looks like using one 31 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: night each week where no activities get scheduled, or if 32 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: that doesn't work, maybe each partner gets one night of 33 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: nothing a week while the other parent handles all activities. 34 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: If you tend to wind up with a lot of 35 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: community or social plans, you might block out a night 36 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: in advance and politely decline or try to move things 37 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: from it if possible. Then once the time is free, 38 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: think about what you'd like to do with it. I 39 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,960 Speaker 1: know why people like this night of nothing terminology, but 40 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:35,080 Speaker 1: it is impossible to do nothing with your time. You 41 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: will do something, So figure out what something would feel 42 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: low key and RESTful. For some people, that might be 43 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: reading a book or doing something at home with the family. 44 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: If it's going to be screen time, think about what 45 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: would be an enjoyable, relaxing version of this. Do you 46 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,360 Speaker 1: have a particular show you'd like to watch, a particular game? 47 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: Would you like to watch a movie? As you are 48 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: experiencing your so called night of nothing? See what it 49 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: feels like, what do you like, what doesn't work? If 50 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: you find you particularly like having a long time to read, 51 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: you might see how you can make space for this 52 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: in your regular life. My guess is that you can 53 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:22,239 Speaker 1: if you try. Being intentional about time helps us see 54 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: all kinds of things, and sometimes a night of nothing 55 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,280 Speaker 1: can offer useful answers about what we feel like we 56 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: are missing in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, 57 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks 58 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, 59 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura 60 00:03:55,560 --> 00:04:04,840 Speaker 1: vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. 61 00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, 62 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:20,840 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.