At 23 I quit my first (and pretty much only) full time job as an adult.
I started teaching yoga but had hours and hours of open time. And to be honest, I had no clue what to do with it. I got lazy. And bored. And sometimes depressed. Why? Cuz I’d never had to access the part of me that knows what I want to do (as is typical in high school, college, and most workplaces, other people made those decisions for me). That part of me needed time to wake up.

Almost 10 years later, that part of me is very much alive and craves days like today, with nothing on the calendar. On days like this I know I wanna take morning walks by the water and come home to heat tortillas over an open flame til the edges get that perfect amount of crispy. I know when all the neighbors are at work I wanna blast salsa music, dance, and swiffer my sexy wood floors. I know I want bike rides, my daily run to the market, and happenstance meetings on the greenway with North End friends and shop owners. I also know that when I give it time (versus squashing it with social media scrolling or other mindless distractions), boredom, laziness and even depression will transform into new ideas and new levels of depth and wisdom.

Monday morning I’ll head into a 9-5 where someone else is gonna tell me how to spend my days again. And surprisingly I feel ready, excited even. After claiming this last decade so fully as my own, I trust I’ll know how to make it work. I trust that all the qualities I’ve cultivated on long, lazy days (creativity, flexibility, self love and self motivation) will be valuable to my new workplace. You better believe I’ll be takin’ that lunch break (and multiple stretch breaks) and if it’s not happening, I trust I’ll advocate for myself. Because what I know for sure, is that good work happens when I feel good.


So when was the last time you had a day with no plans? Completely unstructured time?
If it’s been a while maybe give it a try. Leave your phone at home, walk out the door and ask yourself “What do I wanna do with this day?”