I was made to be a teacher for many reasons, but one of them is because I LOVE summer break. I can still sleep in until noon like a teenager, and I love filling my days with books and hobbies. Doing absolutely nothing works out fine for the summer, but once I knew I wouldn’t have a job when school started I realized that I needed to start adding some structure to my days.
I started by keeping track of what I did for one day. After finishing an activity, I would write it down and how long it took in a notebook. At the end of the day, I found that I could categorize most of what I did into four broad categories. I used those categories to make a block schedule for myself. Here’s how it turned out:
Routines: 7:00-9:00
My routines included getting up and ready for the day, eating breakfast, doing my devotions, exercising, and practicing Spanish (I’m hoping to stick with it better than I did with learning Thai!). All these things made me feel good, and it was nice to be able to check so many things off first thing in the morning.
Housekeeping: 9:00-11:00
This varied from day to day. I usually spent that time running laundry, but I also spent time washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, or doing anything else around the house that needed to be done.
I ate lunch from 11:00-12:00 then resumed my schedule.
Self-Care: 12:00-2:00
It wasn’t worth burning myself out to accomplish tasks all day, so I built in some time to do fun things. I usually spent the time reading, but I might also crochet or do something else crafty.
Writing: 2:00-4:00
I had lofty goals for this time. My plan was to use it to write blog posts, book reviews, instructional materials, and other fun things. Instead, I used this time to catch up on my journal (another casualty of long COVID). Setting aside two hours for writing helped me to accomplish some writing every day without feeling guilty that I wasn’t using more of my time for writing.
In addition to my usual block schedule, I had some special events mixed in, such as going to the library, visiting my favorite thrift store, participating in a quilting group, and drinking tea at a friend’s house. I would rearrange the blocks as needed to fit these activities, and they helped me to actually leave the house.
I miss my block schedule a little bit now that I’ve started a new job. It was nice to have so much time set aside for different activities. The block schedule made all the difference between doing nothing all day and actually feeling like I accomplished something.
I didn’t invent the block schedule, so if you find this idea interesting I’d recommend watching videos or reading other people’s blogs to get more examples of how a block schedule could work for you!
mind-the-gap.blog 