Just a few months ago, I decided to pick one day just for myself, to be by myself, with just myself and no one else, save the nearly half a dozen cats who also live here.
Each Thursday morning, I open the Settings icon on my iPhone. I feel my shoulders drop, my breath slow down, and my spirit lift with a joyful sense of sweet relief when I tap my index finger onto that gray cog icon, knowing that within seconds of sliding the toggle switch to Airplane Mode, that my day is about to open wide up to my own spirit. It’s what my Mom used to call a “free day”, and so it is. I set up my Thursday morning on the back deck with a stack of books and a cup of tea.
My Thursday is the only blank 2-inch by 2-inch square on my calendar, an item I lovingly refer to as my external hard drive. Every other day contains priorities penned in purple ink, the names and times for people I share my time with every other day of the week, but that Thursday column, a clean, pristine white, contains one of the most important gifts I give to myself each week: Nothing To Do.
Thursdays are my Being day. It’s my day to take a drive, explore the woods, read a stack of books, take a nap, watch a bug crawl across a rock, take pictures of the nature in my back yard, try a new recipe, make a piece of jewelry, write a blog, stare at the trees, listen to the silence. Any of that or none of that, makes little difference on Thursday.
Every other day is a Doing day. I’m a do-er. Ask anybody which adjective they would assign to me and the consensus would be this single word: Busy. “You’re so busy,” “June is always busy,” “I figured you were busy.” Which is true for the most part. I do enjoy being busy; however, not on Thursday. On Thursday, I’m not busy at all. Every Thursday, I balance my busyness with my personal practice of awareness, balance, boundaries, integrity, and Non-Negotiable Self-Care. I do not negotiate my Thursdays for anyone. They are an integral part of my the sacrosanct vow I’ve made with my Self.
Today, I turned the phone back just to see what or who was there and saw twenty – 20 – messages and none of them was a cluster of texts like my annoying family group texts. It was actually 20 different people with 20 different questions, texts, comments, requests, etc. All on Thursday.
Is there something special about Thursday? For me, yes. But it wouldn’t have mattered if I had selected any other day of the week to take for my Self. The results would still be the same. It would still be the one day when everyone tries to get a hold of me.
We’ve all probably heard that Nature abhors a vacuum, so it really doesn’t matter when we try to create a space for ourselves because the void that is created desires to be filled in. But it’s my personal responsibility every Thursday to hold that empty, sacred space for my Self, to hold true to my vow to just Be and not Do for only one day each week, to replenish my energy so that I do have something to offer to others any other day of the week. Just not on Thursday.