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If you believe the car commercials you see every day on television, the majority of us spend our weekends blazing through the hills, on the way to a day of bicycling, rock climbing, beach frolicking, picnicking, and generally being active. A look at the parking lot of the local mall come Saturday afternoon shows the reality.Our weekends have become a time of errands, shopping, and finishing up the work we didn't get to during the week. For too many of us, our spirit of adventure is being fulfilled by finding a great bargain at a store. And for parents, our thrill seeking is being fulfilled through our kids -- we shuttle them to and from their sports matches, and cheer from the sidelines.
It's time to reclaim our weekends -- or at least, a good-sized chunk of them. There is no better time for exercise and stress relief than a sunny Saturday afternoon outdoors. Here, then, are ways to sneak in some life-affirming weekend activity.
1. To determine the scope of your weekend hassles, keep a log of your activities this coming weekend. Jot them down in your day planner. Then, come Sunday night, take stock of the weekend that passed you by. Where did you spend your time? How can you cut back on those activities to make time for fun and fitness? You'll likely find that working, shopping, cleaning, cooking, and shuttling are dominating your weekend. Once you document what's chewing up your time, it gets easier to come up with a fix.
2. Shift weekend duties to weekday evening duties. There's no need to wait until the weekend to go to the supermarket, clean the house, or cut the lawn. Make Tuesday and Thursday evenings your "weekend duty" evenings and get the housework out of the way rather than sitting in front of the TV. This way, come the weekend, you'll have free days to do as you wish!
3. Designate each Thursday evening as the weekend planning time. Start by getting the weather report. Next, detail the "must do" stuff, such as attending church or taking your kid to a birthday party. Then, get creative and be bold by filling in the open space with great, refreshing activities. Work the phone -- make reservations, call friends or family for invitations. Too many of us enter the weekend without solid plans, and end up watching TV and baking cookies we don't really need.
4. If you must work, get it out of the way early. A good way to reclaim your weekend from your work is to get up an hour earlier than normal, set the alarm for two to three hours, work in a very focused manner, and then when the alarm rings, turn off the computer. The rest of the weekend is yours!
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