Make Your Weekends Feel Longer without Magic

It was 8 am on a Monday. I opened my laptop to start my day and pressed the power button. Just before the Windows 10 logo appeared on the screen, a sudden thought crossed my mind. “Am I really opening my laptop after a weekend?”, Because it did not feel like that at all. It was more surprising because I had not worked on either Saturday or Sunday. It took me 3 series of weekends, before I found my answer.

I never had a Saturday off during my entire school life. It used to be full day school on Saturday and then I used to come home literally dancing in the evening (my school time was 12.30 pm to 5.30 pm) because I knew, Sunday was ‘my’ day. Nobody can take it away from me. My neighborhood friends, most of them who went to a convent school, (I went to a Hindu cultured school) had a complete Saturday and Sunday off. But still, I never felt I had a short weekly holiday. So what was wrong with me now, my weekend just passed by like a rocket! As if, my brain never switched off from office thoughts when I shut my laptop on Friday evening. Have you also felt something similar?

Try the following things and I can pretty much guarantee that you will start feeling your weekends are longer.

1. ‘Friday Evening’ is the main hero of your weekend

Most important tip. This is the core of your happy weekend. Many people ignore that. No matter how late you finish your work on a Friday, make it a point that you plan some activity before you go to sleep. Do not treat it like your regular weekday evening.

2. Do not watch your weekday Netflix shows

There has to be a difference between a weekday and a weekend. If you watch the same series or a show on weekend too; the ones which you have kept as a ‘daily after-dinner binge watch’ for your weekdays, you will not feel any difference on your weekends. Completely cut off from those shows which you watch daily on weekdays, no matter how tempting they are. This will automatically make your weekend feel special.

3. Watch at least one movie. If possible, starting Friday night

When you watch a movie, you subconsciously go into that story’s time zone. And when you think about it on a Monday, it feels like you spent a lot of time, and the day ended slowly. You feel that the time was passing at a slower rate. Overall, it makes you feel good about your weekend. If you are already a fan of movies, even better! Watch one each evening. More the movies, nicer the feeling it will create. But remember that it has to be a proper movie. Single story from start to end. Not an episode-based show or a series. That will break your attention and it does not give you the fulfillment like a proper movie.

4. Avoid being at home on a Saturday evening

It is pretty obvious that you will wake up late on Saturday (unless you want to work-out early morning). Saturday mornings are supposed to be lazy. Completely opposite from your weekday work schedule. You pretty much get into your senses only by 12 noon. That leads to late lunch and you wont even realize that its 5.30 pm. Nothing wrong till now. But after 5.30 pm, make it a point that you move out of your house. It could be for a walk, grocery shopping, a drive or any other pre-planned activity with your friends or family. Make it a point that you see the sunset after moving out. I personally feel that when you move out of your house after sunset or when its dark, you somehow feel like the day is almost over. Do not let that feeling come to your mind. And hence, move out before sunset.

5. Cooking helps too (if you don’t cook everyday)

Another activity which acts as a differentiator between your weekdays and your weekend. Cooking, like movies, has a start and an end. When you indulge in this entire process, you feel more fulfilled. So if you are not a person who cooks everyday, try a new dish every weekend.

6. Consider Sunday as your Saturday

The moment you enter the second half of your Sunday, you already start thinking about Monday. It triggers a negative emotion stating that “The weekend is almost over”. Remember the example given by Hritik Roshan in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara?, where he says, the sad evening Doordarshan music used to make him depressed about his weekend getting over – Same thing! The reality is Sunday is as big as Saturday and it can be as fulfilling as Saturday too. So when you wake up on a Sunday morning, don’t treat it like a Sunday, rather imagine that it is a Saturday. You will start enjoying your Sunday much more by doing this.