In europe, August is a pretty quiet time. the first few years we were here, i really struggled with it. butcher closed. favourite cafe on the corner closed. bakery closed. hamburger place is fucking closed what are they thinking.
then i got with the program. you know the program, right? if they’re taking time off you should learn from them and take some time off too.
So last year i did an August thing. and i’ve been waiting ALL YEAR to do it again. can’t wait for august 1st. coming right up…
here’s my august thing:
Monday to Friday, turn off the computer at 8 pm. No exceptions. even if we’re near the end of watching a movie, and there’s 10 minutes left … computer off at 8 pm.
Spend the rest of the evening doing non-online stuff. Suddenly the house is cleaner, the dishes are done, the baths are taken, the sheets are changed. Suddenly we’re in bed some nights at 9:30 pm, just sort of worn out and bored, and then the delicious glorious sleep starts. August sleep!
We go for walks after dinner. we read or make puzzles. listen to music. bring out the guitar. make cake. EAT cake. sometimes i write longhand. sometimes i make plans to take over the world, making little notes with my favourite blue pen in my little black book. No looking up movie times online. No checking google maps. if I didn’t do it before 8 pm, then – as my father would say – TBSS (too bad, so sad).
on weekends, even more restricted. computer can be on any time until noon, then off all afternoon until 6 pm, back on only for an hour (6-7 pm) and then off again for the night.
what this meant for us last year is we went out in the afternoons on the weekends every weekend (husband: no point in staying at home, nothing to do without youtube + deezer). and once we were out, walking around the city, looking at stuff… then there was no hurry to go home, because ‘there’s nothing to do at home without the internet’… this makes me crave having a cottage, where you can go for the weekends and really unplug. My argument to Mr. B, of course, is why can’t we create that space at home?
you might wonder why we only do this in August if i LOVE IT SO MUCH. well, two reasons. i can only do this if Mr. B is doing it too (co-dependent much?) and i can only talk him into a 30 day finite time period. Also, my Job #1 is on vacation for all of August, so i legitimately have less work to do and therefore don’t have to be on call in the evenings for that work.
the best part of all of this? early to bed most nights, guilt free, happy, content. if you’re having trouble falling asleep, then you might try the media-off-by-8 pm idea. in early sobriety we need a lot of tricks and a lot of diversions. sleep is still my favourite place to escape.
that said, if you’re in week 1 sober, and you’re feeling crazy, then all bets are off and you watch bad tv until you’re ready to sleep — fine by me! whatever gets you through. now that i’m a bit further along in my sobriety, i feel better able to do shit like this (on a limited 30-day basis).
long way of saying … is it next friday yet? can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait.
really? what is it that i can’t wait for?
well you know me well enough by now. my biggest happy life-hack: sleep and lot of it.
~
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