I somewhat violate the spirit of this column to be so excited about having a day off. After all, we’re trying to find work we love where we can apply ourselves with enthusiasm and love going to work each Monday morning.

Having said that, though, “All work and no play…” You know how the saying goes. (And even if you don’t, you probably have no problem filling in the rest of that phrase.)

Hence the importance of enjoying our holidays and other days off.

For those of us who feel guilty, we need to cut ourselves some slack! It’s not human to value work higher than all other aspects of life. The best part of a day off is the culture-wide permission to do something for yourself. Far from being selfish, enjoying a day off is the very best form of self-care.

For those of us who are work-aholics, we need to expand our repertoires of validation, value and self-care. Leaving work at work is a helpful tool to force us to practice doing something else. Built right into the system, we have these holidays where so many around us are thrilled to be anywhere but the one place that we cannot imagine not being. The new forms of activity, relationship, and interest will serve our souls well.

So what do you have planned for your day off today? Something personally rewarding, I hope.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 15th, 2010 at 10:38 am and is filed under Loving Monday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.