Free Mondays

Staycation? I think it is giving me something more valuable: no performance, no production, no rushing toward the next thing.

Yesterday was Sunday, and I didn’t write.

That sentence feels almost rebellious.

Sunday is my writing day. It’s usually when I sit down with my thoughts, gather the pieces of the week, and turn them into something I can share. But yesterday, I didn’t.

I rested.

I had a completely relaxed, wonderfully unproductive day.

And somewhere between doing nothing and doing exactly what I wanted, I realized something: I really like Free Mondays.

This week is my birthday week, and I took my entire work week off to celebrate.

Initially, I had imagined doing it differently. I wanted to go to the beach. Not just any beach—a different beach. I could see it in my mind: the water, the hotel, the restaurants, the beautiful scenery, the little birthday moments that would make it feel like the perfect celebration.

But then came the planning.

The driving.

The reservations.

The packing.

The figuring out what to do once I got there.

The pressure to make the trip worth it because I had gone all the way there.

And suddenly, the thing I wanted to feel—free—started requiring a lot of work.

So I changed my mind.

I chose a staycation.

There will be a night at a beautiful, posh hotel. A spa day. A fancy solo dinner. Time with my Tribe. Time with Bru. Time at the horse ranch.

And time where nothing is required of me.

That last part might be my favorite.

Today is my first Free Monday.

No work.

No sessions.

No hard decisions.

No rush moments.

No deadlines.

No squeezing something into a 30-minute window because the next thing is already waiting.

Today, we spent leisurely time at the horse ranch. There was no quick workout afterward because I needed to get somewhere. No looking at the clock every few minutes. No mental calculation of what had to happen next.

Even driving felt different.

Normally, driving is transportation. A means to an end.

Monday, driving felt like part of the leisure.

There was nowhere I needed to rush to.

And isn’t that interesting?

Sometimes freedom isn’t about going somewhere extraordinary.

Sometimes freedom is about not having to hurry while you’re getting there.

I think I’ve spent a lot of my life believing that rest had to be earned and that celebrations had to be carefully constructed. That if I was going to take time off, I needed to make the most of it.

But what if making the most of it means making nothing of it?

What if the beautiful thing isn’t the itinerary?

What if it’s waking up and realizing you don’t have one?

There is something new happening in me.

I’m learning that I don’t always need to create the experience.

Sometimes I can simply experience it.

Free Mondays feel new. Good. Better.

They feel freeing. Liberating, even.

And perhaps that’s because there is something deeply sacred about having nowhere to rush to and nothing to prove.

I am turning 56 this week.

Maybe this is one of the gifts of getting older: realizing that the life we imagine will make us happy isn’t always the life that actually gives us peace.

I thought I needed another beach.

Maybe what I needed was another pace.

So here I am.

On my staycation.

Taking my time.

Enjoying my people.

Enjoying my solitude.

Going to the spa.

Having a fancy dinner by myself.

Spending time at the horse ranch.

Sleeping when I want.

Writing when I want.

And maybe not writing at all.

Because apparently, that is freedom too.

Happy Free Monday. ♥️

I’m going to enjoy this one.

Birthday-ing,

Michelle

©️Intimately Worded, Michelle.