Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to celebrate your golden hours, that is the
Speaker 1: hours after work and before bed. These evening hours can
Speaker 1: be hard to use well, but time is time, and
Speaker 1: with a little intention, these hours can be a favorite
Speaker 1: part of the week. So I hear from many people
Speaker 1: about their time, and I know that the hours after
Speaker 1: work and before bed can be a particular pain point.
Speaker 1: For many parents of young kids, this second shift can
Speaker 1: feel like a slog of feeding and bathing people and
Speaker 1: trying to convince them to go to bed so you
Speaker 1: can do it all over again the next day. For
Speaker 1: other folks, the evening can fill with mindless screen time
Speaker 1: and nothing more memorable than the knowledge that the day
Speaker 1: ended eventually. Not all time can be bliss, of course,
Speaker 1: but these post work hours comprise a reasonable proportion of
Speaker 1: people's leisure and family time. If you are home from
Speaker 1: work at five thirty pm and in bed at ten
Speaker 1: thirty pm, that is twenty hours spread over Monday to Thursday.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of time to spend unintentionally or worse,
Speaker 1: wishing it away. But what if we reimagine this time
Speaker 1: as our golden hours, What if we saw them as
Speaker 1: a potential source of pleasure, not in some future time,
Speaker 1: but now. I do think it is possible, and even
Speaker 1: a little planning can go a long way towards changing
Speaker 1: the experience of time. The phrase golden hour is often
Speaker 1: used in photography to describe that hour around sunset when
Speaker 1: the light makes everyone look good. But I also like
Speaker 1: the connotations of golden years, a phrase describing an era
Speaker 1: of active leisure and family time after a period of
Speaker 1: hard work. Golden years come in retirement, but golden hours
Speaker 1: could happen every day. I think this potential rebranding can
Speaker 1: be helpful for switching up our mindset. The Monday to
Speaker 1: Thursday golden hours can be made a lot more pleasurable
Speaker 1: by doing a few things. First, take a night off.
Speaker 1: If the second shift is feeling like a slog, make
Speaker 1: plans to skip it one night. I think all busy
Speaker 1: people should take one night for you and commit to
Speaker 1: something apart from work and family responsibilities. I sing and
Speaker 1: acquire most Thursday nights. You could take a salsa dancing class,
Speaker 1: or join a spiritual small group, or play pickleball, figure
Speaker 1: out what would make you excited about life. Figure out
Speaker 1: the logistics and spend your golden hours doing that one
Speaker 1: night per week. Second, plan little adventures. We start counting
Speaker 1: the hours toward bedtime when we're bored, so at least
Speaker 1: one night a week, why not bust the routine a
Speaker 1: little and do something more memorable. It can be a
Speaker 1: family walk or trip to a different playground, or a picnic,
Speaker 1: or a trip to a library branch. With evening hours,
Speaker 1: think about what family activities you might find enjoyable and
Speaker 1: pick a night to try. If you are not caring
Speaker 1: for small kids or aren't on some nights, you could
Speaker 1: try different adventures, meeting friends, trying a different workout class,
Speaker 1: they're going for an evening run, maybe cooking something elaborate.
Speaker 1: Evening hours often feel forgettable, but golden hours don't need
Speaker 1: to be. Third easier pain points. Part of honoring the
Speaker 1: golden hours is figuring out when you are most miserable
Speaker 1: and doing what you can to make those moments better.
Speaker 1: If you hate cooking while a toddler is pulling at
Speaker 1: your leg, why not get some easy to prepare foods
Speaker 1: that you are excited about. Lots of grocery stores sell
Speaker 1: reasonably healthy meals, like a piece of salmon with some
Speaker 1: veggies and a sauce that you just have to stick
Speaker 1: in the oven. If you dread bathtime, maybe kids don't
Speaker 1: need to bathe so often. Find bedtime stories you want
Speaker 1: to read. If you are stuck in a child's room
Speaker 1: waiting for them to go to sleep, feel free to
Speaker 1: read something lowbrow on the kindle lap. Set a timer,
Speaker 1: and refuse to spend more time on chores than that
Speaker 1: limited time so you don't feel like you are wasting
Speaker 1: your night. Fourth, upgrade your leisure. Some people have more
Speaker 1: leisure time during their golden hours than others, but everyone
Speaker 1: can make the most of the time they have. Stock
Speaker 1: up on easy reading material and indulge in some supplies
Speaker 1: for a favorite hobby. Make a list of favorite accessible
Speaker 1: activities like sitting outside by a fire pit or taking
Speaker 1: a bath, and make sure to do at least one
Speaker 1: of these during your golden hours each week. Finally, end well.
Speaker 1: One reason I recommend people set a bedtime, especially during
Speaker 1: the work week, is that an endpoint give structure to
Speaker 1: a day. You can be a bit more mindful of
Speaker 1: your golden hours if you know how many you have
Speaker 1: Verse viewing them as amorphous and un certain. You can
Speaker 1: also create a bedtime ritual that helps you feel cozy, calm,
Speaker 1: satisfied with your day. Drifting off to sleep early enough
Speaker 1: that you will feel well rested in the morning can
Speaker 1: make any day feel more golden. In the meantime, This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number
Speaker 1: four than Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an
Speaker 1: email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com that
Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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