Making the Most of Your Sundays

Dates can be kind of arbitrary. I mean, we're conditioned to hate Mondays because it's the first day of work for the week for most jobs (but not all) and yearn for Friday the entire week. Friday and Saturday nights are for "fun" and then Sundays are the day of the week where you get to sleep in, laze around, or nurse your hangover from the night before. If you don't work a job where you'd have a shift scheduled on Sunday (been there, done that, not a huge fan), it's easy to spend your whole day doing...well...nothing. And that's absolutely fine!

I worked almost every single Saturday (aside from holidays and whatnot) for about a year and a half. That meant that I didn't have my whole weekend to catch up on work. So, I was left with trying to get all of my work done Friday night after classes and work (unlikely) or Saturday when I got home from my weekend shift (again, also unlikely). This meant I had one day over the weekend to get stuff done before Monday was Sunday. I gained a huge appreciation for the first day of the week and I still like to continue treating it the same way I used to when I was in school and working full-time.

For me, Sundays are my catch up on literally everything days. It's my day to get work done ahead of time and catch up on things that I might not have been great about the week before. It's when I plan out my week and figure out what I'm going to try to do. Mainly, this is all blog-related at the moment because we all know my job situation (or lack thereof, lulz), but I used to get much more than just blog-related things done on a Sunday morning and afternoon. It's an underrated day of the week that is useful for both catching up on things and also going out for a (boozy) brunch. You can get the best of both worlds with it, I promise.

Of course, my Sundays vary. If I'm being entirely honest, I didn't get nearly as many things done yesterday as I normally would have. This was partially because I woke up way more tired than usual (probably because I was tired the day before and also wasn't feeling well, I also blame consistently insisting staying up to watch Saturday Night Live while it airs) and because I chose not to shoot yesterday. I've been getting better about shooting during the week in an effort to try to get out of the house more and get some fresh air. Plus, the weather just wasn't fantastic. I digress, I didn't shoot any outfits yesterday, which cut out the process of getting ready, shooting, choosing and editing photos, and then drafting their respective blog posts. That's a huge part of my Sundays and I genuinely look forward to it because it makes me feel like I'm doing something productive with my time.

Instead, I stayed in my room, caught up on YouTube (some of my faves upload on Sundays, namely The Michalaks, Megan Ellaby, Lizzy Hadfield, and Lydia Millen), and then worked on this blog post so it'd be ready for today! And that's totally fine. I can't have a super active and busy Sunday every single week, especially if I now have ways of keeping myself busy throughout the week as well without having to stress about only having one day a week to get everything I need to get done.

Sundays for me are always a great planning day as well. I always break out my agenda and keep it open on my desk, always eager to fill my content calendar for the blog. I do still post five days a week, which means I have to keep a constant stream of ideas floating around and make sure I know what I want to shoot, write about, and post on any given weekday. Plus, this now includes what I want to do as my video for Saturdays since I tend to want to shoot early in the week so I have the whole week to edit and then watch it over like, ten times to make sure I didn't miss anything or make any bad cuts.

I like to have at least the next week in my agenda full. I really would prefer to have two weeks planned in advance, but sometimes it does get difficult depending on what I've shot or intend to shoot. I leave a lot of days blank and just have "outfit post?" written down (in pink gel pen, of course) so I know what kind of post I want for the day but maybe not exactly what the topic is. Just a general outline even will keep me on track and help guide me to a more solid idea or at least on what to shoot so I can form an idea around that.

The next thing I do on Sundays is like, really boring and something I should probably try to do every day, but I love tidying and cleaning/organizing. I especially like to do this either right before or right after my breakfast. Sometimes it's just making my bed and making sure everything is in its place. Yesterday, I had quite a bit of clothes and laundry to put away. Really, it just depends on how sloppy I let myself be during the week. I don't know what it is about a neat and tidy room that just makes me feel good on any given day, but I'm here for that feeling.

Back when I had an apartment to keep up and lived on my own (I mean, with roommates, but still), going to Target was literally a Sunday ritual. I went to Trader Joe's during the week because it was down the street from my work and I had to pass it on my way home, but Sundays were when I really felt like I thrived. Even if I only had to pick up coffee creamer, coffee, and tortellini on most Sundays, "running errands" always made me feel like I had my life together. I love the phrase "running errands" because my errands usually include caffeinating myself and making sure I have some source of sustenance for the week so I don't accidentally forget to feed myself like I do to all of the plants I've ever tried to take care of. So, I guess this really combines running errands and treating yourself. Did I really need to get Starbucks every Sunday when I went to Target? Absolutely not. Did I though, without fail? You betcha. I wanted my stars so I could get free drinks!

Sundays are also just the perfect admin days. I mean, of course, this is when I get my blog planning, photo editing, and post drafting. Sometimes I make my outfit widgets if I'm really feeling it. But it's also the day where I start doing the things that I probably should have spent more time on doing during the week. I'm not perfect, so sometimes I forget to reply to comments because...I really don't know. I see the e-mail notifications when I'm in the middle of something and then panic a few days later when I realized they've been sitting without any reply. I also catch up on blogs that I read on Sunday even if I really should be doing that all week. I'm trying to get better, I swear!

I guess maybe my obsession with getting things done on Sundays is part of my inability to take a day off and enjoy a day of nothing. Also something I'm trying to work on, but regardless, this is how I make the most of my Sundays instead of just declaring them a day of rest. Because, let's be real, right now all of my days are a day of rest. I might as well be productive one day of the week.

What's usually on the agenda for your Sundays?