By: Adelina Perez
Are you someone who loves to make plans? Or are you someone who would rather just go with the flow?
I personally love planning, specifically vacations, but in general I am a big planner. This is because I like to know what I am doing and when. If I have an assignment due on Friday, I will make a plan to work on it on a specific day and time so I can schedule other things around that. I have noticed that 99% of the population does not work like this.
I believe my over planning brain started functioning like this after growing up with a family that loves to just go with the flow. I am someone who gets anxious easily and being late to everything or the simple not knowing what’s happening next would really get to me. Now I over-plan everything. I do want to state that I am very flexible and change my mind constantly. If something doesn’t go as I planned or something else comes up, I am not going to have a mental breakdown because of it (usually). Generally, I would like an idea of what’s going to happen and when. This drives a lot of my family and especially my boyfriend crazy and that is because they all like to do things on a whim. My family likes to cancel day of, and my boyfriend forgets easily.
I bring this subject up because I recently came back from a vacation. It happens to my second vacation in two weeks. I had back-to-back weekend trips planned. This completely wore me out since I am working two jobs, going to school full time as a graduate student, and planning two trips. I felt and still feel completely exhausted. For most people, vacations are a time to relax. Since I am the genius party planner of every group, I become the ringleader so everyone else can easily enjoy themselves.
I am not necessarily complaining about it because it is my thing; my niche you might say. Planning takes a lot of work and mental capacity. Coming home feeling like my brain has turned to mush reminds me of what I always preach to other people, which is the importance of taking time for yourself. Usually when I plan things it is for other people to make things clear and easy. I planned a bachelorette party in Vegas this past weekend and the weekend before, I went to Disney with my boyfriend. I enjoy the ideas of trips and planning what the days will look like but at the end of the day, I become exhausted. Especially going to places that are full of people with high energy and very busy.
What is your traveling routine? Before I leave for a trip, I try to clean up my home and make sure everything is neat and ready for when I come back. My favorite part of coming home is taking a shower and going to lay in my bed. I don’t want to notice that my trash is full, or that there were dishes left over. When I return, I take forever to unpack, unpacking is the literal bane of my existence. This time I really got thrown for a loop when I came back from my first trip and had to get ready for my next one. After feeling completely exhausted, I took a step back. I realized that I not only tend to bite off more than I can chew, but I have also lost any kind of routine I set for myself. I used to make sure I had time once a week to have an evening where I do my self-care stuff. My goal now is to reimplement these routines to see how I feel in a few weeks.
I believe that we all often get caught up with our day to day activities without realizing that we have no time for ourselves.
What makes you feel happy?
I understand how hard it gets to put time aside for yourself. We all have friends and family, plus all these other obligations. If you are reading this, then you are most likely a student or professor which is already a huge responsibility. Again, I ask, what makes you happy?
Is it walking your dog? Or maybe it playing a video game?
It is so important to find and realize what helps you recharge your battery. The small things that you care about and aren’t for anyone else. Yes, I love being with my friends but it’s deeper than just doing something fun. It’s about what you can do for yourself. I know that we all would be more productive if we took the time to show ourselves as much love as we do others.
What can you do this week for yourself that will make you feel loved and recharged? I have set a guide for myself to follow for the next three weeks. This includes finding time to go to the gym alone and doing my self-care routine which usually entails a facemask of some kind and wine.
For you, it might be something completely different. Maybe it’ll be watching this week’s football game or even going to bed early. Now I challenge you to discover what you can do for yourself and find time this week to actually do it.
