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 create your recipe for a good long weekend.
Speaker 1: When you know what makes time off work feel special
Speaker 1: for you, you will be able to put these components
Speaker 1: together easily in the future. So this episode is first
Speaker 1: airing on Juneteenth, twenty twenty six in the United States,
Speaker 1: our newest federal holiday, one celebrating Emancipation. Lots of communities
Speaker 1: will have festivals and events, and lots of people will
Speaker 1: have the day off work. This year, Juneteenth falls on
Speaker 1: a Friday, which means that this is a long summer
Speaker 1: weekend for many people. But even if you don't have
Speaker 1: the day off, long weekends happen with some regularity, whether
Speaker 1: for a Memorial Day or Labor Day, or if your
Speaker 1: office here in the US will be closed for the
Speaker 1: Friday before the Fourth of July weekend. Other countries obviously
Speaker 1: have their own holidays. These little breaks in the schedule
Speaker 1: can offer the opportunity for rejuvenation and adventures and meaning. However,
Speaker 1: in many cases, like all units of time, long weekends
Speaker 1: can be spent unintentionally. You may want to do nothing,
Speaker 1: but it is impossible to do nothing. You will do something,
Speaker 1: but it might not be nearly as rejuvenating as if
Speaker 1: you had put some thought into it. Think lots of scrolling,
Speaker 1: half hearted email checks, puttering around the house, making a
Speaker 1: little progress on a project, but not enough to feel
Speaker 1: accomplished kids various places. So, instead, going into any long weekend,
Speaker 1: do a few things to make it more enjoyable, relaxing,
Speaker 1: and memorable. Figure out what a good long weekend looks
Speaker 1: like for you, and then you can repeat these components
Speaker 1: in the future. For me, the recipe for a good
Speaker 1: long weekend first starts with knowing it is coming up.
Speaker 1: I hope you've got any office closures or holidays on
Speaker 1: your calendar, and I hope you occasionally take PTO to
Speaker 1: create a long weekend. Then for me, the recipe calls
Speaker 1: for doing one anchor event each day. This is one
Speaker 1: slightly more substantial event to make the day feel like
Speaker 1: it happened. If you will be coordinating with anyone like
Speaker 1: family members or friends, it's best to decide these anchor
Speaker 1: events ahead of time. That way, you don't waste time
Speaker 1: on your weekend. Decide what to do that can burn
Speaker 1: up a lot of energy. You make arrangements and know
Speaker 1: when you need to go so that you can organize
Speaker 1: your days in an orderly fashion. Long weekends in particular
Speaker 1: are great for doing items on your local bucket list.
Speaker 1: If you haven't made such a list, now would be
Speaker 1: a great time to do so. What are fun things
Speaker 1: within an hour or so of your house? What looks appealing?
Speaker 1: What do you keep saying you should try? You might
Speaker 1: decide that plucking something from this list could go in
Speaker 1: your recipe for a good long weekend. Of course, there
Speaker 1: might already be events on your calendar. If so, is
Speaker 1: there anything you could do to make them more fun
Speaker 1: or more memorable. Maybe you are going to a soccer tournament,
Speaker 1: but see that there is a county fair nearby that
Speaker 1: you could visit. Maybe there is an ice cream par
Speaker 1: or nearby that makes those best of lists. When you
Speaker 1: plan ahead, you can add these adventures on. You might
Speaker 1: also think about the mix of activities in general for
Speaker 1: a weekend. I like the idea of doing something physical,
Speaker 1: something social, and something spiritual. These are categories of activities
Speaker 1: that people generally enjoy. See my do a by ride,
Speaker 1: a cookout with friends, and go to worship services, or
Speaker 1: volunteer somewhere. The spiritual category might also be addressed by
Speaker 1: doing something or going somewhere that inspires awe. Climb a
Speaker 1: mountain and look at the view, and that could do
Speaker 1: it for you right there. You should also think ahead
Speaker 1: about what your first choice activity is for any downtime.
Speaker 1: I know that going into a long weekend, I like
Speaker 1: to either have a puzzle going or be reading a
Speaker 1: really good bo book. That way, when a spot of
Speaker 1: time opens up, I don't wander around figuring out what
Speaker 1: to do with it. If you think about this ahead
Speaker 1: of time, you can stop by the library to get
Speaker 1: a book you're excited about. But if you haven't thought
Speaker 1: about it, you can get ebooks instantly for not that much,
Speaker 1: or make sure you've got hobby supplies for whatever you'd
Speaker 1: like to do. And finally, I think a recipe for
Speaker 1: a good long weekend would include something light but fun
Speaker 1: on the last evening. If you've got Friday off, then
Speaker 1: we are talking Sunday evening. If you've got Monday off,
Speaker 1: then of course we're talking Monday evening. After a long weekend,
Speaker 1: it can be easy to feel a bit let down.
Speaker 1: It's back to normal life. Those feelings can eat up
Speaker 1: a big chunk of your last weekend day. But if
Speaker 1: you plan something enjoyable for that evening, you will spend
Speaker 1: your day looking forward to that rather than dwelling on
Speaker 1: what is coming up afterwards. This can stretch out the fun.
Speaker 1: So that's my recipe. An anchor event each day, ideally
Speaker 1: doing something physical, something social, something spiritual. Figure out your
Speaker 1: first choice for downtime, and plan something fun for the
Speaker 1: last night. Your recipe might be similar, or it might
Speaker 1: be a bit different. Maybe your first choice for long
Speaker 1: weekends is always to take a trip somewhere not too far,
Speaker 1: but far enough that it doesn't quite fit in a
Speaker 1: normal weekend. But it helps to have a recipe because
Speaker 1: when you do, you can just plug in the ingredients.
Speaker 1: You aren't starting from scratch. You know what makes a
Speaker 1: good long weekend, and so the planning is pretty easy.
Speaker 1: You move on swiftly to the doing. In the meantime.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to before breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
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