How to Make Your Weekdays Feel Like Weekends
For anyone tired of waiting until Friday.
For many of us, counting down the days until the weekend has been ingrained since we were kids. Monday is dreaded. Tuesday somehow feels worse. Wednesday means we’ve made it halfway. By Thursday we’re starting to thaw, and by Friday we finally feel like ourselves again.
For years I treated Monday through Thursday like something to get through. Work, errands, emails, laundry. All the things that made the weekend feel well deserved when it finally arrived.
But what if we didn’t have to wait until Friday?
I’m experimenting with a few small changes that make ordinary days feel a little more like the weekend.
No. 1 | Slow Mondays
Instead of launching straight into the week, I treat Monday morning like a small extension of Sunday. Coffee. Journaling. Maybe turning on music, the same way you would if you were making pancakes on the weekend.
Before opening my laptop, I like to write down a list for the week ahead. The same way you might write a grocery list on Sunday. It helps get everything out of my head and onto paper.
A few mantras I like to keep in mind:
“Today moves at my pace.”
“The week will meet me where I am.”
“I ease into my week with intention, not urgency.”
It’s a small shift, but it makes Monday feel much less chaotic. A gentle extension of the weekend.
No. 2 | Read Throughout the Day
Reading is one of the easiest ways to slow down the day.
A few pages in the morning with coffee. A chapter during a lunch break. A little reading before bed.
Lots of people I know do this too, but something that works really well for me is non-fiction in the morning or during the day, and fiction at night when I want to fully escape.
You also fly through books this way. I think I’ve read seven or eight already this year, which feels a lot better than realizing you just spent an hour doomscrolling.
No. 3 | Go Analog
On a similar note, try doing something with your hands for fifteen minutes a day.
Lately I’ve been loving needlepoint and painting, but it could be anything, a crossword, sketching, flipping through a magazine/coffee table book, writing a list in a notebook. After a screen-heavy day, even a small analog moment feels incredibly grounding.
No. 4 | A Golden Hour Walk
This one is especially perfect now that the spring days are getting longer.
Instead of going straight from your computer to the couch, try stepping outside for a short walk right before sunset. There’s something about golden hour that instantly shifts the mood of the day and suddenly the workday feels officially over.
It breaks the day in half in the best way, you come back inside feeling like the evening has actually begun.
No. 5 | Wear Something Cute
At the end of the workday, try changing into something you actually like wearing.
Not pajamas. Not the same sweatshirt you’ve been in all day. Something cute. A soft sweater, linen pants.
It sounds small, but it changes the whole energy of the evening. Suddenly dinner feels more like an occasion instead of just another weekday night.
No. 6 | Make a Weeknight Playlist
Instead of letting the evening unfold in silence, put on a playlist that feels a little more like Friday night. Something you’d play while cooking with friends or getting ready to go out. Suddenly Tuesday doesn’t feel quite so boring.
I made one called “Quiet Luxury,” which puts me in the best slightly delulu mood of waltzing around the house like I’m the main character in a Nancy Meyers movie. Highly recommend. (Fair warning: my Spotify Wrapped claims my listening age is 82.)
No. 7 | Have a Little Weeknight Drink
There’s something about pouring a drink that signals the day is officially over.
It doesn’t have to be a full happy hour situation. Just something intentional. I’m in mocktail land for the next couple of months, but a glass of wine while cooking dinner, sparkling water with citrus in a nice glass, or a martini all work.
It’s less about the drink itself and more about the ritual of it. Telling yourself it’s okay to wind down and indulge even if it’s not Saturday night.
Tip: Bring your drink on your Golden Hour Walk, ref. No. 4.
No. 8 | Make Dinner Plans With Friends
Weekends aren’t the only time you’re allowed to be social.
Some of the best dinners actually happen on random weeknights. Nothing elaborate here (unless you feel so inclined). Just make a little extra than you normally would or throw together a tasty snack plate and invite some friends over.
There’s something about seeing friends midweek that makes the whole week feel lighter. I absolutely love sitting outside on the patio after dinner is finished, chatting about the week with a drink in hand.
Tip: Love a Thursday for this.
No. 9 | Put the Phone in Another Room for an Hour
This one is a favorite.
Try putting your phone in another room for an hour in the evening. While you cook dinner, while you’re watching a show, or while you’re winding down.
Without the constant pull of notifications and scrolling, the evening suddenly feels much slower and more present.
I’ve noticed that when I’m constantly scrolling, checking emails, and responding to notifications, the evening flies by. Without it, it feels like you have a lot more time to enjoy once your work day is wrapped up.
No. 10 | Spa Moments
You know how on a Sunday you might put on a face mask or do an “everything shower”?
Let’s have some spa or self care moments during the week too. If you work from home, put in a hair mask for the day, lay on your spiky mat during a fifteen minute break, or do a face mask in the evening.
Attention to self care during the week can make an ordinary weekday feel a lot more luxurious.
None of these things are particularly revolutionary. A walk, a playlist, a dinner with friends, a face mask on a Tuesday. But together they make the week feel a lot more enjoyable. Instead of spending four days waiting for the weekend, you start realizing the good life can happen on a Wednesday night too.
Mondays as an extension of Sunday.
Midweek walks at golden hour.
Thursday nights that feel a lot like Fridays.
Consider this your permission slip to romanticize this week.
xx,
P.K.
The perfect, intentional list! 👯♀️ It’s not about cramming all your rest/personal moments into 2 days. This makes life feel so intentional & well-lived. 💕
Listening to books instead of doom scrolling is one of my favorite ways to chill & relax.