Make it a stop on the way home

How to solve the problem of not wanting to leave your house

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good Morning.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that if you.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Want to have a little adventure on a weekday evening,
you might be best off making it a stop on
the way home. It can be hard to get out
the door again after a long day of work, but
it might not be as hard to add something on
to an end of day commute or pick up run.

(00:38):
Longtime listeners know that one of my favorite time management
tips is to plan one big adventure and one little
adventure each week. A little adventure can be pretty short,
less than an hour, which means it is doable on
a weekday evening. I also like the idea of taking
one night for you, doing something that is not work

(01:00):
and not caring for family. This might be a good
weekday evening activity as well. Many people agree with me
in theory, but one key stumbling block is that a
weekday adventure or going to something regularly like an exercise
class or a choir practice, means you might have to
go back out again after coming home from work or

(01:23):
picking up kids, especially when it is dark and cold
after dinner. People often want to hibernate. That trip to
a local gallery with evening hours. That sounded good in
theory doesn't sound quite so good when you are tired
after a long day and realize you could be putting
on your sweatpants and sitting on the couch.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
I get it. I like my sweatpants too, But almost
always after I have had a little adventure, I am
glad I have done it. I usually enjoy myself as
I am doing it too. That is the point of
having an adventure or a hobby. Now, you could try
telling yourself that your future self will thank you. It's

(02:08):
just one night. Every other night you can get straight
into your pajamas. But if that doesn't work, here is
a practical strategy. Make it a stop on the way home.
I heard this recently from someone who really didn't like
the idea of heading back out after commuting home after
a long day, but she signed up for music lessons

(02:29):
every other week that involves stopping at the studio on
her way home from work. She didn't have to motivate
herself to leave again because she was already out, and
she got her hobby. Very smart, right, I can think
of lots of ways this could play out.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
I mean the obvious one is stopping at the gym
on the way home from work, though I do realize
that that is when it is most crowded. But when
the weather is nice, you could pack running clothes and
change at work and stop at a park on the
way home. Once a week or so, you could sign
up for lessons at six pm somewhere, or take a
six thirty art class and decide to grab a sandwich

(03:07):
on the way there. If you leave work at five
point thirty. If something starts later in the evening, you
could pack yourself a sandwich and work a little later
that night. If that is a possibility, to fill the
time and tell your activity and then leave earlier some
other day or come in later now. If you are
responsible for other people in the evening, then this could

(03:28):
be a little more complicated, but maybe not. If you
are picking your kids up at daycare, maybe bring a
snack that is substantial enough to fill them and have
a little adventure to gather. We are only talking one
night a week can be okay to bust up the
routine once, or you can trade off with your partner.

(03:49):
Each of you gets one night where you stop to
do your hobby or adventure on the way home from work,
and the other takes the kids during that time. If
you have a sitter, maybe this person could work until
an hour later one night. It would be harder to
arrange for other childcare to come after this person is
left anyway, so this might be your best bet for

(04:10):
making a little adventure happen. Because it is hard to
head back out after you've gotten home, even if you're
planning to do something fun, it can still feel like
a bit of an imposition. But if you haven't gotten
home yet, then you don't have that problem. So figure
out what logistics would need to happen and what you

(04:30):
would like to do one night a week, and.

Speaker 1 (04:32):
I bet you could make it work. Just because it
is hibernation weather doesn't mean our remembering selves will have
wanted us to do that every night. Best to give
our remembering selves something to actually remember in the meantime.
This is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making

(04:55):
the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

(05:19):
is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.