There’s Only One Person You Need to Make Time for This Weekend

Apartment Therapy Weekend Projects is a guided program designed to help you get the happy, healthy home you’ve always wanted, one weekend at a time. Sign up now for email updates so you never miss a lesson.

I know it’s February and the holidays are almost two months behind us, but I’m just barely starting to feel like a regular person in a normal routine. Don’t get me wrong. I love all the thinking of others and giving that the winter season entails, but it can take a lot of physical and emotional energy out of a person. Just like home does at the end of a vacation, daily life that doesn’t have to be “special” sounds good.

Of course, here we are in the middle of another holiday that’s chock full of pressure to make people feel special and to feel special yourself. Today, on Valentine’s Day, which might feel like it’s way too close on the heels of the holidays we’re still recovering from and might feel like a day you’d rather skip for more reasons than one, we’re going to take the wheel.

Rather than being a merry-maker for others and rather than hoping the day makes you feel loved rather than disappointed, we’re going to focus some energy on making ourselves feel happy with some self care. The result will not only be the joy of filling our buckets, but will allow us to give to the ones we want to pour into from a place of abundance rather that burnout.

Treat this time like an appointment you’ll get a late fee for skipping, or a date with a friend you’d never flake on. By penciling yourself in, you get to do something for yourself deliberately and guilt-free, rather than as a squeezed-in afterthought that rarely happens. This is an act of love and you’ll come out of it feeling rich and full.

Try to plan exactly what you’ll do so that you don’t waste any of your you time figuring out what you’re going to do with your newfound freedom. This way you’ll also enjoy looking forward to your special time.

Here are some ideas for what you can do during the time that’s just for you:

• Picking up your favorite instrument and playing.
• A delicious hour of reading on the back porch with a candle lit and a blanket wrapped around you.
• A walk alone.
• A night off from your regular duties of cooking, cleaning, laundry—whatever.
• Planting that plant your family got you as a birthday gift and that’s been waiting patiently in its plastic pot for far too many weeks.
• Ordering take-out.
• Getting that one spot in your kitchen/closet organized (this is only an option if it truly brings you joy while you’re doing it).
• Perusing a family photo album.
• Calling your out-of-town BFF and indulging in a long catch-up session.
• Baking something you usually don’t have time for.
• Taking the time to learn about something you’ve been wanting to know about (that DIY project, vegetable gardening, the grad school program you’ve been thinking about).
• Watching a movie, at home or out.
• Spending time doing a favorite hobby or setting yourself up to revive a hobby you’ve vowed to get back into.

What will you do?

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.