By Victoria Q

My typical 8-5 office job is getting busier lately and I’m having burnt out every single day. It left me no energy after work. I don’t feel like cooking, I don’t feel like eating, I don’t feel like walking. I just want to lie down and if possible, fall into sleep. Nope, falling asleep is hard when I overworked myself.

Inside of me is screaming and yelling. My body sent me plenty of signals to indicate it needed a real rest. My body is aching, feeling heavy to wake up in the morning, not wanting to eat, no desire to write after work. It has been this way the past few weeks.

It is Saturday tomorrow and I’m taking this opportunity to take a rest. A real rest that my body has been longing for.

I usually wake up at 6.15 am even during the weekends without fail. I enjoyed waking up early in the morning when the world is still quiet and peaceful. Feed the dogs first thing in the morning, make my bed, exercise half an hour, make a cup of tea, journal how I want my day to be, hop into the shower, dress up, make a healthy breakfast, enjoy my breakfast without any distraction, and lastly head out to work. Weekends are slightly different where I’ll exercise for an hour and have my breakfast a little bit later since I don’t have to rush out to work. Other than that, it is the same time, the same morning, same routine, both weekdays and the weekends.

But tomorrow, I’m going to make it different. I want to have a different routine that is going to be amazing. No more waking up at 6.15 am. I’m going to sleep in. I’m going to sleep till my body wake up naturally. Our body is the best detector. It will wake up when it’s well-rested and ready to hit the world again.

I’m going to spend the entire day doing what I want apart from thinking about work. I know I’ll probably do that since I had a hectic week and I’m sure my brain couldn’t stop racing yet. Still, I’ll do my best to dump everything about work. My friend’s sons are coming to my house tomorrow and they are so adorable. We’re going to spend time playing and going to the zoo tomorrow. It will be a fun day.

There are also a few things I really wanted to do when I decided to have a rest day:

• Sleep in: My body has been sending me non-stop signals every single day for the past few weeks and I’ll definitely do it tomorrow.
• Eat breakfast in the bed: I found this idea when reading an article about how to spend the day in a minimalist way and it caught my attention.
• Watch a movie early in the morning before doing anything: I somehow have this thought that why must we do the important things as soon as we wake up and not something chilling and relaxing first? A new way to start the day.
• Have a cup of hot matcha latte while listening to the sound of crickets or birds: Sitting quietly, drinking a hot cup of matcha latte, looking at the tall green tree out of the window and listening to the sounds of crickets or birds chirping, how relaxing it is!
• Take a long hot bath: Wash away all the tiredness and step out of the bathroom clean and fresh to start your beautiful day.
• Eat something nice: Our body needs nourishment too! Treat your body that always works hard and never let you down.
• Self-care: Do a whole-body exfoliate, scrub away all the dead skins and put on a face mask. Taking care of both inside and outside of the body is part of recharge day.
• Have another cup of matcha at night: Because… why not?

What about you all? When was the last time you have a recharge day and how are you going to spend your recharge day?