Are You Scheduling Your Rejuvenation?

By Brenda Clark Hamilton, MA Ed.
Tomorrow afternoon, I will be leaving for a short trip out of town to present to an association group in southeast Iowa.  Just before I leave town, though, I will have what my girlfriends and I playfully refer to as our “monthly,” i.e., my prescheduled monthly lunch date with my two dear friends, Vivian and Marlys. 

A couple of years ago, Vivian, Marlys, and I decided that we were tired of the empty “we should do lunch” greeting as we passed each other at our kids’ ballgames and concerts.  We decided to schedule a regular, third-Monday-of-the-month 1:00 p.m. lunch date at the Chinese restaurant in downtown Algona.  It is our look-forward-to, uninterrupted girlfriend time, where we spend one hour talking, belly-laughing, and catching up on each other’s lives—and it is sacred.

Often when I’m presenting to groups, I ask them to think about how they spend their time off from work, and if they ever think about purposefully scheduling rejuvenation for themselves.  Many times during trainings, employees will comment that they are so wiped out going into the weekend that they essentially collapse on the couch in front of the TV, tending only to the basics that have to get done, then when Monday morning comes, they feel even more exhausted than they were before the weekend.

I think the key to being a truly dynamic, energetic individual is to think ahead about your time off and ask yourself what would be truly refreshing and rejuvenating for you during that time.  Then, just as Vivian, Marlys, and I have done—schedule it, just as you would doctors’ appointments and dentist appointments that tend to your physical health.  Why neglect your mental and emotional health, which have so much to do with how you approach your work and relationships?

I encourage you to ask yourself today:  What is something I could do this weekend, or this evening, or even during my afternoon break today, that would be rejuvenating for me?  Maybe it’s grabbing an iced coffee and putting your feet up for a few minutes of R & R.  Maybe it’s planning an early morning solo bike ride on the weekend.  Or maybe it’s calling up some friends to catch a movie matinee. Now, go one step further and decide what time you will do it and mark it on your calendar. 

I think you will find that, once you get in the habit of scheduling rejuvenation for yourself, you will have more energy, more joy, and more enthusiasm for approaching everything in your life.

I’d love to hear from you about what rejuvenation activities you’ve put on your calendar as a result of this blog; please either post a comment on the Midwest Speakers Bureau blog or email me at frcoffee@ncn.net.  I will plan to reply to everyone, but if you don’t hear back from me right away, I’m probably out lunching with the girls.
–Brenda Clark Hamilton, MA Ed., www.BrendaClarkHamilton.com

1 Comment

  1. After going to my friend/coworker’s funeral today, who lost her 2 1/2 year battle to breast cancer, I found this article quite inspirational. Life is too short and we never know how long we will be on this earth, so we have to stop and smell the roses.

    One fun thing that a group of my co-workers and past co-workers do is we have a Birthday Club and we do lunch for those special days. After reading this article it has inspired me to “schedule” more rejuvinating activities…some of the girls I work with go for a 15 minute walk on their breaks..I think I’ll start!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment