The Power of One Day
Today is a day to do only what I want, only when I want. The world is my oyster, and I'm going to shuck it. My husband is away on a guys' weekend, so the cats and I have the whole place to ourselves. I'm trying to make the most of my limited time, so I'm going to be planning ahead.
I've minimized my obligations and potential complications by:
- only eating safe food for days prior
- doing the full grocery run earlier in the week
- leaving myself a single task that guarantees I leave the house
After all, I know who I am as a person. I've played a video game straight through from start to finish in a single sitting instead of sleeping before. I may hate commitment, but I need some semblance of structure to not lose all track of time.
I've even gone one step further: I planned my Saturday morning activities the night before.
I hope to make more flushed out plans for later in the day as I complete the tasks I already have figured out, keeping myself only a couple steps ahead at any given time so I don't start to forget things or get overwhelmed. The perfect balance of flexibility and stability. That way, even if I decide to do something wild on a whim or eat something bad, at least I'll have Sunday to recoup.
Now, why I felt so certain I'd be able to complete the whole summary-of-the-day post on the same day that I was trying to be busy and productive like that is beyond me, but I was clearly sure I could do it since that was how this post originally started. To no one's shock, it is no longer the same day that these events took place as I'm writing these words.
Part of me wondered if I was crazy to spend a whole day doing only what I wanted when I wanted to, but I am a childless 30-something adult. The only things I really have to take into account at any given time beyond the standard job/rent/food are my husband, my cats, and myself. I'm in the perfect position to take time to myself occasionally without a lot of hassle.
Even though I couldn't accomplish everything I wanted on that day since I didn't finish this post, I'd still consider it a huge success. I'd change a thing or two about it, sure, but overall I'm very happy with how I spent my time. It was a nice change of pace. A reset.
It's wild how much a single day can change. How much funk it can get you out of. How affordable it was. Even the repercussions of my actions didn't bring me down. Turns out figuring out what I actually like and want to do, then doing that winds up being a lot of fun.
I had such a great time that I honestly just wanted to share about my day.
Morning
I wanted to set myself up for success from the start of the day, even when "succeeding" at my goal meant just... having a good time. The day started with me getting up "naturally" around 7:00 AM, meaning I was woken up by the sounds of Makar screaming for a crumb of dry food. After giving the cats some crunchies, I made some custard for French toast and left it to chill in the fridge while I went outside for a classic wake'n bake.
When I came back in, I started the griddle and took care of the dishes from the night before while it heated up. The timing was so perfect that, right as I finished the dishes, the griddle light went off to indicate it was ready to go.
I made myself some breakfast, even staying on top of the dishes by cleaning the ones I made during the process of making French toast so I wouldn't have to deal with it later in the day. It was a calm, quiet morning.
With the kitchen in better shape than it was when I woke up, I was already feeling good about how my day was going. I was excited to continue down this path of productive fun, I fired up my computer and did the dang thing.
I finished the last practice reel of my gesture drawing course.
I got a little certificate in my email and everything. I was afraid I wouldn't finish it last month, but I did! Now in November, I've got another course to sink my teeth into. I'm so excited to push my skills even further.
The rest of the morning was spent watching the cats eat their breakfast while I jotted down ideas for a new story, started this blog post full of optimism, and flushed out some other creative ideas that popped up while I idled.
I did a few small things around the house since I was trapped until Midna finished breakfast, then cooked myself some scrambled eggs on a toasted bagel for lunch that turned out delicious. And, of course, I handled all of those dishes in the moment as well. It was a point of pride.
Early Afternoon
Once the cats were done with their food (and I was fully sober), it was time to knock out the one errand I needed to complete: a return. I challenged myself to find a single piece of clothing that I really wanted with the coupon I'd get, and I actually followed through! After searching the whole store, I found a jean jacket on a great sale that was still coupon eligible. I'm thrilled that I powered through the feeling of wanting to leave the moment I didn't like the first thing I tried on because look at how dang cute this thing is!
From there, I did the scariest thing I've done in a long time: I went roller skating. Solo. I've had a pair of skates just collecting dust for months that I bought them after waffling back and forth on whether or not I would really try skating again for months. Eventually I pulled the trigger and got them, even trying them on the day they came in, but I hadn't done anything with them since. In classic me fashion, I immediately got in my head about skating the moment doing it was a real possibility. I wanted to learn to skate again, but I didn't want to look like a goober. I didn't want to be bad at it, especially not in public.
While I did, in fact, eat it in the rink once or twice, I'm glad I did. It wasn't embarrassing, even with three separate birthday parties worth of children out there with me. They were all eating it too. Even with the injuries, it wound up not being as bad as I anticipated (even if the bruises that only just finished healing weeks later told a very different story). I genuinely had a great time, and I'm hoping go again soon! Austin might even join me next time.
On the way home, I made sure to stop for gas so I wouldn't have to worry about it this week and got myself a little treat for doing the thing I'd been putting off (unfortunately, even worse than the wrist and hip bruises was the anger in my bowels from eating the nutty bar "reward"). When I came home, I wanted to continue working on this post but, with the worst bruise being on my dominant wrist, I conceded to relaxing while I iced and elevated it instead.
Evening
With my wrist injury essentially taking me out of the running to do anything else productive for the rest of the night, I did some much needed relaxing. I made myself a safe, easy dinner, then went back to what I'd spent all of Friday night doing: playing Control Resonant. Nurse Midna sat on my lap while I played the game, and I made sure to keep my wrist above my heart to minimize the swelling and bruising.
The Power of One Day
All in all, it was about as perfect of a day as I could have given the circumstances of not yet knowing all my trigger foods and having restarted a hobby I hadn't touched in over 20 years. I optimized my time well, balanced wants and needs, and got out of my comfort zone. I gave myself moments of trying to better myself interspersed with times dedicated to relaxing.
Sometimes I'm afraid that, if I were to only do what I wanted, that I'd be a lazy sack of shit that never leaves the couch and lets the house fall into disrepair. Turn outs, when I'm in charge of how I spend my time, I can use a little bit of structure to keep my worst impulses in check.
Who knew?