I’ve been focusing on putting things on the calendar and having something to look forward to, and one of the ways I’ve been doing this is finding activities to do after work. Since I often have other obligations on Sunday, I’ve found that using the time after work can be really helpful in infusing fun into my week. Some of the benefits of this are that it breaks up the week and makes each week feel a little bit different from the next, gives me something to anticipate at work, and infuses a sense of fun and adventure into an ordinary day. For example, one night I went to see Wicked (again!) by myself, and one night a friend invited a group of us to go bowling.
I recently saw a study that found that older adults who engaged in at least one culturally enriching activity per month had a 48% lower risk of depression (controlling for socioeconomic status, health, and social factors). Of course, this is a correlation, not causation, and it’s quite possible that people who seek cultural enrichment have an underlying quality that protects against depression — but as a person who often seeks cultural enrichment, it was fun to see this data.
Some of the after-work adventures that I have tentatively (or firmly, as it may be) planned are my burger and shake dinner, the High Line, donating blood (or at least attempting to), and author talks with Amor Towles and Gretchen Rubin.
What little adventures have you enjoyed?
