Comments on: Tranquility by Tuesday Challenge, Rule #7: Take one night for you

By: Four Questions to Find a Compromise – Work Life Balance with Kelsey Miller

Four Questions to Find a Compromise – Work Life Balance with Kelsey Miller — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 04:59:48 +0000

[…] some friends where we rotate hosting and enjoy a few hours eating dinner and socializing. It is one night I take for myself which bring me joy and helps me destress and reenergize for the remainder of the week. It was my […]

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 23:04:05 +0000

I’m excited to get back into this rule. I’ve participated in adult sports leagues (ultimate, broomball (a local sport), or pickleball depending on what’s convenient and seasonal) but have gone without this regular fun night since I started coaching basketball for one of our kids. I’m planning to join a doubles pickleball league with my sister in a couple of weeks.

I’m even more excited that my husband decided to sign up for a skeet shooting league starting in a couple of weeks. We sometimes do leagues together (hire a babysitter or bring the kids depending on the season and the location) but I’m glad for him to get to nurture his interests that are decidedly not mine. Plus, I won’t feel guilty putting all the parenting/cleaning duties on him for my nights out now 😉

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 03:21:01 +0000

I truly believe in this rule. I have committed to working out at lunch a minimum of three days a week. I put the time on my calendar and treat it like a work meeting. The positive attitude and feeling of accomplishment I receive after the workout far out weights the occasional push back to coworkers required to ensure no other obligation interferes with this time. It is dedicated time for me and only me.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 21:32:49 +0000

In reply to Laura Vanderkam.

@Maggie – although if you’re doing a once a month book club you’re already doing well – maybe just add a friend get together or something another week and you’re more or less in the spirit of this rule 🙂

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 21:32:03 +0000

In reply to Maggie.

@Maggie -ooh, I love this question. I’ll write about this in a post this week (not you specifically — I hear this a lot!). I love singing so that wasn’t terribly hard for me to come up with, but I know that many people do not have some particular thing they would put in that category. But I do like to believe that in this vast wide world there is something you would really look forward to — but because it is a vast wide world sometimes it’s hard to find! I think some experimentation is in order, which can be the priority until you find something else to be a priority.

By: Laura Vanderkam

Laura Vanderkam — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 21:27:06 +0000

In reply to Turia.

@Turia – wow, I’m thrilled this rule has been so helpful to you! I love that you are getting to ride and seeing such a benefit from it. Yep, weekdays are totally options for people too…I just would stress that people don’t *have* to use weekday daytime hours. People with families are allowed to take 2 hours or so a week away from them.:)

By: Maggie

Maggie — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 20:37:26 +0000

I’m glad we finally got to this rule because I have problems with it. It’s not that I don’t see why I should make it a priority, it’s that I cannot come up with something I really would look forward to, commit to and that would happen every week. Isn’t that a bit sad? I have things that happen maybe once a month (like book club) and I have exercise and health commitments but they’re nothing I look forward to. And I can’t seem to come up with anything?!

By: Turia

Turia — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 16:31:32 +0000

This rule changed my life. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t think of the weekday option until the story about watching matinee shows on Broadway. Evenings and weekends are very complicated here and it was too easy to put anything for me in the ‘too hard’ basket. But opening up the possibility of weekdays made me rethink my options.

I started taking riding lessons again in December (after 15 years with almost no time in the saddle). The commute to/from the stable plus the lesson and associated grooming/tacking up/untacking eats my entire work slot for Friday afternoons, but I get back before the kids are home from school, so I don’t feel like I’m taking time from anyone other than myself. Almost every week I’m stressed that I’ve booked it as I see work responsibilities piling up, but every week I manage to get everything done (because I have to – I’ve committed to the lesson!), and I start the weekend so much more relaxed. It makes a huge difference to my mental health – I have to be totally present while riding – and I look forward to it every week.

Thank you for this rule! It’s the one that’s made the biggest change overall.

By: Coree

Coree — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:26:46 +0000

I’m away 3 nights a week, and one is in transit, and one I normally work late, but I always book a yoga class for one of the nights. It ticks the exercise, mental health, and work-life balance boxes. I work in a bigger city, and live in a tiny village which doesn’t have yoga, so this works really well.