Weekend with Myself

I had originally planned to spend this sauna weekend at the country home with best friend. Unfortunately things changed and she couldn’t leave her family. When she told me I understood but was bumped. Sad. I really needed and wanted this weekend of relaxation. After feeling this way a few days I figured why not make it a weekend with myself. And that is what I did.

Lately things have been tiring. Not particularly tough but the amount of small things chipping away at my motivation and resilience and desperately needed a way to wind down. So I decided this will be a yoga-sauna-reading weekend.

Friday

I left Berlin early. I dropped off the husband downtown Berlin at 10 am and then directly went to the country. I arrived at 11:40am. Which was perfect. The autobahn was not totally busy and I was even able to drive fast fast.

As soon as I arrived I turned on the heating and water systems. Fortunately it wasn’t as cold as last year so I made myself a soup I had brought from home. Then I started to get some work stuff out of the way. My plan was to take a walk to the grocery store at 2:20pm in order to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. In the end work and a call kept me busy until 3:45 pm when I headed out. Once at the grocery store I filled my cart with lots of healthy yummy things and I am particularly proud to not have added any candy. This would have been a go-to move previously when I wanted to treat myself. But I know it’s not good for me and a 5 day migraine is very convincing in case I forget.

I walked back home and by the end I realize I have a bit of a back ache. The back pack wasn’t too heavy but here I was. Good thing sauna was on the horizon. But once back I had to get back to the laptop. Sales taxes for October were waiting. By 7pm I was tired and decide to screw the to-do list and push it all in the next (already overly booked) week. Sigh.

The towns water tower and its landmark. Opposite the grocery store.

I went to the kitchen and cooked my lentil dal. In between I carried stuff to the sauna and stirred the fire which was almost out but could be rekindled. Once the dal was done I carried that over to the saune and settled in. I watched the fire a bit and then did a 30 min yin yoga session which was for some reason really hard. I had hoped my back pain will be better but it was getting worse so I just sat in childs pose till the video was done.

After that it was relaxing, sauna, dinner, reading, relaxing and walking outside, barefooted in the grass, watching the stars, getting back into sauna, drinking tea and reading some more. Apparently I fell asleep and woke at 0:40am. The fire was almost out. I gathered my things and went to the main house for my bed. I read a little more and then I fell asleep around 1:30am I think.

Saturday

I slept till 9:30am. I was awake somewhere around 6am and read a little but then went back to sleep. I got up and made a ginger mint tea. I quickly went over to the sauna and cleaned the oven, filled wood basket and went back to the main house. I enjoyed my tea and read some blogs. Then I made breakfast – porridge with apple, blueberries and pomegranate seeds. I had that while reading more blogs until 1 pm.

Then I headed out for a walk. I originally had planned an 8km hike around a nearby moor but my body was sending signals of exhaustion. So much so that I felt like I just wanted to curl up on the couch and read. But I saw this as an opportunity to train for the arctic – getting out even when tired and stiff. I settled for a 5km walk around the fish and beaver pond in a very very slow pace. By the end however I was exhausted. It was a beautiful walk though.

The pond where the beavers live was perfect and the white heron posed for me.

When I came back I lay down with my book for an hour and read and had some ginger tea. After that I made myself an avocado egg sandwich and typed up parts of this post.

Then I headed over to the sauna to spend the rest of the day there. First lighting the fire. Making a tea. I sat very close to the fire for a bit waiting for the room to heat up. At 5pm I did a 45 min yin yoga session which was nice. After that more reading in my book, a little fire gazing. At around 7pm I went to the sauna. After that a little walk outside followed by reading some blog posts before it was dinner time. The rest of the evening was reading in my book. It’s not as great as hoped and I just want to finish it. At 10pm I went for another sauna sweat. The fire had died down. So I only sat a little to relaxe and almost fell asleep so I decided to head back and go to bed. In the end I think I turned the lights off at 11:30pm.

Sunday

I woke up early at 6:30pm. I read a few comments on my blog and then was checking if a US friend was online for a chat. I got up made some ginger tea and checked the phone for the friend but apparently already in bed. So by 7am I was too awake to go back to sleep. I sat down with my book and read a little. Then picked up the laptop and wrote on blogposts and read blogs until 10:30 am. I made myself some breakfast and listened to my friends book podcast while eating. Then I played two games on my phone before I went back to blog reading.

Healthy foods all weekend long. The lentil dal was amazing, I still have one portion left for tonight.

Around 1pm I decided to get myself dressed and outside for a walk. I went by the cemetery to have a a little hello with my grandparents, dropped off a letter to my godchild and then went on a 5km loop. when I came back I read some blogs for a few minutes before heading over to the sauna. I had heated the fireplace before the walk and I was ready for some fireplace yin yoga. After 40 minutes I added a 20 minute meditation. When I was done it was dark outside, the fire had died down. I sat a little by the warmth of the fire and just relaxed before I picked up my books and read a few pages.

By 5pm I headed back to the main house for a long hot shower. It was time for some lunch/early dinner and I started gathering my things to head back. While doing so I had the AI agent figure out the best travel insurance for my arctic trip.

I ended up reading blog posts in-between getting my stuff together and by 7:45 I was finally getting ready to go home. It took me another 45 minutes due to a few hiccups. (ever where at a gas station and all your cards declined?). I made it home by 10:30 pm in the end.

Summery of this weekend

The short version: Lets do it again.

I didn’t read as much as I intended – only about 150 pages and probably 100 blog posts – but instead went on 5+km walks each day. I did long yin yoga sessions too. And I was in the sauna. I tried to not rush and check off all the things I wanted to do and had planned.

When I drove home, I suddenly realized how clear my mind was. No brain fog. I was so alert. I cannot remember the last time I was so clear headed. That was exhilarating and also a bit worrying. Is that a normal state I should be in?

I think I am going to try to do this in spring again and then maybe in fall and after that it becomes a routine, right?

Have you ever spend a whole weekend all by yourself? Do you do home spa days? Have you ever realized how alert you can be when relaxed and well rested?