4 ms·

What do you do in rest of the 3 days? I am anxious throughout the weekend. It may have to do with the lockdown we have. But I am glued to mobile anyways or so

What do you do in rest of the 3 days? I am anxious throughout the weekend. It may have to do with the lockdown we have. But I am glued to mobile anyways or some sort of screen. How can I work on this mindset?

aiisjustanif 5y ago
Have you tried going for walks? Play basketball? Exercise? Do chores you couldn’t catch up on that usually need to be done during the 8 to 5? Gardening (even in an apartment)? Running group? Volunteer work?
whichdan 5y ago
Honestly, talking to a therapist might be the best start. You shouldn't have to feel anxious all of the time, and there are lots of different ways you can work on managing and minimizing your anxiety so you can have your weekends back to yourself again!
RedShift1 5y ago
I used to work 4 days a week and shopping during weekdays is amazing, especially when shopping for clothes.
pjc50 5y ago
Some people have family.
dsr_ 5y ago
When I had several months of 4 day weeks due to [stupid corporate vacation rollover policy change], I told my manager I wasn't coming in on Wednesdays. It was amazing. Two-day sprints separated by a day or two of rest are really, really productive for me. I never had Monday blahs because I was never facing a long haul of 5 days of work. Number one recommendation I have for you, regardless of your working situation: change where you are. I don't mean move to another city, I mean keep work things away from personal things physically. If you have a corner that you always work in, never do anything else there. Go get exercise -- if you aren't doing any at all now, pull up a map and find a place about a kilometer from you. Walk there, walk back. When it's raining, take an umbrella. If it's too hot, take a bottle of water and an umbrella. There's nothing shameful about hiding from the sun.
- dvfjsdhgfv 5y ago
  I had the same for a year, it was wonderful. I think the key was that it was Wendesday, so these 2x2 days, even though intensive, didn't really feel like work. I never had the feeling of being stuck and just getting through to the weekend, on the opposite - it felt like perfect balance. I miss these days.
philmcp 5y ago
One of my personal motivations for working less time in my full time job is to build a side project which allows me to quit my job completely
Tainnor 5y ago
For me, going for walks and listening to podcasts or audiobooks helped a lot, especially during the dark winter months. I also started learning Japanese which kept me quite busy and I started cooking more.
trebligdivad 5y ago
Well I'm also glued to screens; but not work screens. If I think of a work problem I write it down or mail my work email and then forget about it for the rest of the weekend. As to what to do; sigh,at this rate keep up with my backlog of home tech problems. Occasionally work on something fun and interesting.
marvin 5y ago
This is a deeper philosophical question than it might seem initially, and in the HN crowd the answer might be different from me than what you'd expect. Most people here are smart, hard-working and aspire to be high performers in whatever they do. So when you have an extra day off, you're expected to use it for an ambitious side project, self-improvement, learning new technology or whatever. I have a part of this mindset in my identity, but it's a source of stress. So after a bit of a history of anxiety and depression in my past, I've made the deliberate decision to relegate this to the part my attention that's focused on employment and earning money. I never let it enter the part of my time that I have for myself. This means that my three days off are spent on activities I find meaningful: Family, seeing friends, reading, playing computer games, hiking/biking/working out, philosophizing, re-filling my social introvert energy. Occasionally flying airplanes in summer, skiing or snow kiting in winter. I always say yes when opportunities to do activities with friends show up, and this never turns into a stressful thing since I always have the opportunity to recharge before work. If I feel like doing something more structured and ambitious, something creative, I'll do it. But it has to come from the heart. Generally, I don't have a lot of excess creative energy even when working 4 days a week, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I always have a lot of excess energy for handling stuff that might otherwise get low priority: Getting enough sleep, seeing enough friends, handling any physical or mental health issues that want attention. That's a big difference.
bennysomething 5y ago
I've noticed that I only start to unwind when I'm on week 3 of a holiday. On weekends I just feel like the clock is ticking until weekend is over. I logged into work today (Sunday) and that eased my usual Sunday "fear".
- tailspin2019 5y ago
  I can relate to this. I’m curious to hear a bit more though about what you meant by this: > I logged into work today (Sunday) and that eased my usual Sunday "fear".
  - bennysomething 5y ago
    Ah, I just mean that usually by Sunday i start getting tense about work on the Monday. Logging in today and getting my Monday todo list sorted out and doing a couple of hours of work has put my mind at ease. The Sunday "fear" seems to be a bit of an Irish / UK saying, or maybe it's just me and my friends that say it.
    - tailspin2019 5y ago
      Ok got it. I figured that might be what you were getting at. I definitely experience the same thing. Isn’t it crazy though that in order to feel more relaxed on our day off, we need to actually spend that chunk of time in work mode. The weekends are short enough as it is! I’m in the UK, and while I haven’t really heard that particular term used as a common saying, I intuitively knew what you meant! (Sadly)
      - bennysomething 5y ago
        Yes, it's completely insane. Also a few hours after writing this I heard my friend's older brother, dropped dead of a heart attack at 41 years old last week. This has me seriously considering requesting a four day work week plus a 20 percent pay cut
        5y ago

aiisjustanif 5y ago

Have you tried going for walks? Play basketball? Exercise? Do chores you couldn’t catch up on that usually need to be done during the 8 to 5? Gardening (even in an apartment)? Running group? Volunteer work?

whichdan 5y ago

Honestly, talking to a therapist might be the best start. You shouldn't have to feel anxious all of the time, and there are lots of different ways you can work on managing and minimizing your anxiety so you can have your weekends back to yourself again!

RedShift1 5y ago

I used to work 4 days a week and shopping during weekdays is amazing, especially when shopping for clothes.

pjc50 5y ago

Some people have family.

dsr_ 5y ago

When I had several months of 4 day weeks due to [stupid corporate vacation rollover policy change], I told my manager I wasn't coming in on Wednesdays. It was amazing. Two-day sprints separated by a day or two of rest are really, really productive for me. I never had Monday blahs because I was never facing a long haul of 5 days of work. Number one recommendation I have for you, regardless of your working situation: change where you are. I don't mean move to another city, I mean keep work things away from personal things physically. If you have a corner that you always work in, never do anything else there. Go get exercise -- if you aren't doing any at all now, pull up a map and find a place about a kilometer from you. Walk there, walk back. When it's raining, take an umbrella. If it's too hot, take a bottle of water and an umbrella. There's nothing shameful about hiding from the sun.

dvfjsdhgfv 5y ago
I had the same for a year, it was wonderful. I think the key was that it was Wendesday, so these 2x2 days, even though intensive, didn't really feel like work. I never had the feeling of being stuck and just getting through to the weekend, on the opposite - it felt like perfect balance. I miss these days.

philmcp 5y ago

One of my personal motivations for working less time in my full time job is to build a side project which allows me to quit my job completely

Tainnor 5y ago

For me, going for walks and listening to podcasts or audiobooks helped a lot, especially during the dark winter months. I also started learning Japanese which kept me quite busy and I started cooking more.

trebligdivad 5y ago

Well I'm also glued to screens; but not work screens. If I think of a work problem I write it down or mail my work email and then forget about it for the rest of the weekend. As to what to do; sigh,at this rate keep up with my backlog of home tech problems. Occasionally work on something fun and interesting.

marvin 5y ago

This is a deeper philosophical question than it might seem initially, and in the HN crowd the answer might be different from me than what you'd expect. Most people here are smart, hard-working and aspire to be high performers in whatever they do. So when you have an extra day off, you're expected to use it for an ambitious side project, self-improvement, learning new technology or whatever. I have a part of this mindset in my identity, but it's a source of stress. So after a bit of a history of anxiety and depression in my past, I've made the deliberate decision to relegate this to the part my attention that's focused on employment and earning money. I never let it enter the part of my time that I have for myself. This means that my three days off are spent on activities I find meaningful: Family, seeing friends, reading, playing computer games, hiking/biking/working out, philosophizing, re-filling my social introvert energy. Occasionally flying airplanes in summer, skiing or snow kiting in winter. I always say yes when opportunities to do activities with friends show up, and this never turns into a stressful thing since I always have the opportunity to recharge before work. If I feel like doing something more structured and ambitious, something creative, I'll do it. But it has to come from the heart. Generally, I don't have a lot of excess creative energy even when working 4 days a week, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I always have a lot of excess energy for handling stuff that might otherwise get low priority: Getting enough sleep, seeing enough friends, handling any physical or mental health issues that want attention. That's a big difference.

bennysomething 5y ago

I've noticed that I only start to unwind when I'm on week 3 of a holiday. On weekends I just feel like the clock is ticking until weekend is over. I logged into work today (Sunday) and that eased my usual Sunday "fear".

tailspin2019 5y ago
I can relate to this. I’m curious to hear a bit more though about what you meant by this: > I logged into work today (Sunday) and that eased my usual Sunday "fear".
- bennysomething 5y ago
  Ah, I just mean that usually by Sunday i start getting tense about work on the Monday. Logging in today and getting my Monday todo list sorted out and doing a couple of hours of work has put my mind at ease. The Sunday "fear" seems to be a bit of an Irish / UK saying, or maybe it's just me and my friends that say it.
  - tailspin2019 5y ago
    Ok got it. I figured that might be what you were getting at. I definitely experience the same thing. Isn’t it crazy though that in order to feel more relaxed on our day off, we need to actually spend that chunk of time in work mode. The weekends are short enough as it is! I’m in the UK, and while I haven’t really heard that particular term used as a common saying, I intuitively knew what you meant! (Sadly)
    - bennysomething 5y ago
      Yes, it's completely insane. Also a few hours after writing this I heard my friend's older brother, dropped dead of a heart attack at 41 years old last week. This has me seriously considering requesting a four day work week plus a 20 percent pay cut
      - 5y ago