{"id":255,"date":"2021-06-01T00:09:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T00:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/?p=255"},"modified":"2022-07-23T22:03:10","modified_gmt":"2022-07-23T22:03:10","slug":"having-time-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/01\/having-time-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Having &#8220;Time Off&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Since we&#8217;ve been together, Kyle has always had to work on Memorial Day, and the days leading up to this holiday were&#8230; less than enjoyable. With Kyle in his first office job, he&#8217;s getting a taste of how sweet a full-time office job can be. During the holiday weeks, there&#8217;s <em>less <\/em>work <em>and <\/em>you actually get holidays <em>off<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friday, like most Fridays at work, had been sprinkled with a few chaotic moments. After I clocked out, I felt like I could breathe again. The thought of the weekend carried me through every moment of the day, and I just couldn&#8217;t wait to <em>clock out<\/em>. I can&#8217;t remember most of this day, other than feeling frustrated, leaving work, eating, and then going to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before I went to bed, I vowed that I would wake up early. That did not happen. When Saturday rolled around, Kyle and I slid out of bed at around 7:00 a.m. (yes, that is &#8220;sleeping in&#8221; for us!). I tried to squeeze in as many chores as possible before our &#8220;Waffle Saturday&#8221; event. Sleeping in, waffles, <em>time off, <\/em>it sounds great, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not when you&#8217;re me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I dislike most about my brain is&#8230; well, many things, but my <em>need <\/em>to clean is at the top of the list. Here I am, with <em>plans<\/em> and a three-day weekend with my fianc\u00e9, and all I&#8217;m thinking about is&#8230; cleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Okay, after you do this, you can finally wipe off the countertops. Dust the dresser. Clean the shower tub.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These thoughts incessantly swim through my head nearly every weekend. I have to think sometimes&#8230; what happens if I can&#8217;t clean over the weekend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My definition for &#8220;dirty,&#8221; is vastly different than others. The weird thing is&#8230; if I&#8217;m over at someone&#8217;s house, and it&#8217;s obvious that they haven&#8217;t had time to clean, it doesn&#8217;t bother me <em>at all<\/em>, but if I&#8217;m lounging around and I see dust buildup on <em>my<\/em> coffee table? Game over. Time for a spiral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, I&#8217;m proud to say that I did get the cleaning done this weekend, but I&#8217;m also disappointed that this was such a big task on my &#8220;to-do&#8221; list. Will the world fall apart if I forget to dust one weekend? Reality says no, my brain says yes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other than my brain&#8217;s obsession with cleaning, I did have an enjoyable three-day weekend with Kyle in which I:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Hung Out With Friends &amp; Ate Waffles<\/li><li>Saw My Parents<\/li><li>Found Time To Garden<\/li><li>Went Shopping<\/li><li>Felt Normal (Pre-COVID Normal)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I am happy to have accomplished these things. Saturday and Sunday were fantastic, and I enjoyed laughing and reminiscing with my parents, going out for dinner, and feeling like a post-COVID future was actually possible. Today was a big &#8220;catch up&#8221; day in terms of chores and volunteer work. I am sad that I didn&#8217;t get to play piano, read, or just feel&#8230; relaxed. I really only felt relaxed on Sunday, when I laid beneath a maple tree, watching the cicadas trek up the tree trunk while Kyle flew his drone. Everything else felt like a giant to-do list I had to tackle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do I convince my brain to give me a break every now and then?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have answers, let me know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can I request vacation time with my brain?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thoughts-and-rants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lizandkyle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}