Second Cup: Celebrate your golden hours

How to embrace weekday evenings

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to celebrate your golden hours, that is the
hours after work and before bed. These evening hours can
be hard to use well, but time is time, and

(00:32):
with a little intention, these hours can be a favorite
part of the week. So I hear from many people
about their time, and I know that the hours after
work and before bed can be a particular pain point.
For many parents of young kids, this second shift can feel.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Like a slog of feeding and bathing people and trying
to convince them to go to bed so you can
do it all over again the next day. For other folks,
the evening can fill with mindless screen time and nothing
more memorable than the knowledge that the day ended eventually.

(01:14):
Not all time can be bliss, of course, but these
post work hours comprise a reasonable proportion of people's leisure
and family time. If you are home from work at
five thirty pm and in bed at ten thirty pm,
that is twenty hours spread over Monday to Thursday. That's
a lot of time to spend unintentionally or worse, wishing

(01:38):
it away. But what if we reimagine this time as
our golden hours, What if we saw them as a
potential source of pleasure, not in some future time, but now.
I do think it is possible, and even a little
planning can go a long way toward changing the experience

(01:58):
of time. The phrase golden hour is often used in
photography to describe that hour around sunset when the light
makes everyone look good. But I also like the connotations
of golden years, a phrase describing an era of active
leisure in family time after a period of hard work.

(02:21):
Golden years come in retirement, but golden hours could happen
every day. I think this potential rebranding can be helpful
for switching up our mindset. The Monday to Thursday golden
hours can be made a lot more pleasurable by doing
a few things. First, take a night off. If the

(02:45):
second shift is feeling like a slog, make plans to
skip it one night. I think all busy people should
take one night for you and commit to something apart
from work and family responsibilities. I sing and acquire most
Thursday nights. You could take a salsa dancing class, or

(03:06):
join a spiritual small group, or play pickleball. Figure out
what would make you excited about life. Figure out the
logistics and spend your golden hours doing that one night
per week. Second plan little adventures. We start counting the

(03:26):
hours toward bedtime when we're bored, so at least one
night a week, why not bust the routine a little
and do something more memorable. It can be a family
walk or trip to a different playground, or a picnic,
or a trip to a library branch. With evening hours,
think about what family activities you might find enjoyable and

(03:48):
pick a night to try. If you are not caring
for small kids or aren't on some nights, you could
try different adventures, meeting friends, trying a different workout class,
they're going for an evening run, maybe cooking something elaborate.
Evening hours often feel forgettable, but golden hours don't need

(04:10):
to be. Third easier pain points. Part of honoring the
golden hours is figuring out when you are most miserable
and doing what you can to make those moments better.
If you hate cooking while a toddler is pulling at
your leg, why not get some easy to prepare foods

(04:30):
that you are excited about. Lots of grocery stores sell
reasonably healthy meals, like a piece of salmon with some
veggies and a sauce that you just have to stick
in the oven. If you dread bathtime, maybe kids don't
need to bathe so often. Find bedtime stories you want
to read. If you are stuck in a child's room

(04:51):
waiting for them to go to sleep, feel free to
read something lowbrow on the kindle lap. Set a timer,
and refuse to spend more time on chores than that
limited time so you don't feel like you are wasting
your night. Fourth, upgrade your leisure. Some people have more

(05:11):
leisure time during their golden hours than others, but everyone
can make the most of the time they have. Stock
up on easy reading material and indulge in some supplies
for a favorite hobby. Make a list of favorite accessible
activities like sitting outside by a fire pit or taking
a bath, and make sure to do at least one

(05:34):
of these during your golden hours each week. Finally, end well.
One reason I recommend people set a bedtime, especially during
the work week, is that an endpoint give structure to
a day. You can be a bit more mindful of
your golden hours if you know how many you have

(05:57):
Verse viewing them as amorphous and un certain. You can
also create a bedtime ritual that helps you feel cozy, calm,
satisfied with your day. Drifting off to sleep early enough
that you will feel well rested in the morning can
make any day feel more golden. In the meantime, This

(06:20):
is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook

(06:42):
and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
number four then Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me
an email at Before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia dot com.
That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much, look forward to staying in touch. Before

(07:07):
Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
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