Weekend Reads #72: Busy and Tired

Weekend Reads is a weekly post in which I discuss a variety of topics and mention the books I plan to read on the weekend.

This post was inspired by Sara Letourneau’s recent Thursday Thoughtfulness post, which asked:

What are your favorite ways of “recharging your batteries”? Do you think that rest, relaxation, and other forms of mindfulness are important parts of everyday life? Why or why not?

Good timing, Sara. This was exactly what I intended to talk about.

My blogging — posting and interacting with other bloggers — have been spotty lately because I’ve been busy and by the time I sit down to write, I’m either tired or not in the mood. Often, this means that I need to recharge. It means that I’m overtaxed in some way, either working too much at my job or socializing too much in my life, which is fun but leaves me drained afterward.

I consider myself an introvert and I believe I’m shy, though some people claim I’m not. Though I love socializing, it takes a lot of energy for me to do so, which makes me tire quickly. I think that might be the case lately. I hardly have any time alone. When at work, I interact with people throughout the day and always have a companion to share lunch with and I live at home with my family so I’m always interacting with them too. Recently, whenever I go out to spend time alone, I bump into someone I know and end up spending the day with them.

This is all great and I’m not complaining here, but I am tired and need a little break for myself to recharge and just be me with me.

I think it’s important to schedule time to recharge because it helps in maintaining a healthy and balanced life. Without such breaks, people get stressed, irritable, and unhappy. I certainly do. In extreme cases, I get ill, usually by developing a migraine and twitching eye that doesn’t go away until I relax.

The best way for me to relax is to spend an entire day by myself doing whatever I want whenever I want. Sometimes I don’t have a whole day, so I’ll visit a bookstore and take my time looking at all the books considering what to buy. I usually do that after a very busy week at the office.

Other times, I take the whole day for myself and go see a movie early in the day when I know only few patrons are at the theater, visit a museum or historic building or simply a spot I’ve never been to before, eat at a restaurant I’ve always wanted to visit, find a cool, shady spot to people-watch, and top off the day with a visit to a bookstore.

At the end of these all-day trips with myself, I am relaxed and recharged and feeling like myself again.

However, there are a few times when spending time with others help me to recharge, which I find very surprising. Sometimes I go out to spend the day alone but end up having a conversation with someone, friend or stranger that I bumped into, that turn into hours-long discussions on a variety of topics. I usually walk away from these conversations having learned something new (and met someone new, of course), which is probably what gives me the extra boost.

Today I’m looking forward to spending time alone. I just want to go shopping and probably see a movie and chill by my lonesome. I need the break.

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What I’m reading this weekend:

Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

This is the last book in the Liveship Traders trilogy, which I am buddy-reading with Emily from Embuhlee liest. So far, the story is good. All the characters are in a pickle and I wonder how things will be resolved. I suspect there will be a mutiny on Brashen’s ship and I don’t think I like Serilla much anymore.

Anyway, what are you reading this weekend and how do you recharge and relax?

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