Hello from the Rebound!

Giving myself time to bounce back

Last Sunday, I checked my calendar for Monday and gasped. There, right in the middle of my afternoon, was a two-hour unscheduled block I’d labeled “Break / Celebration.” 

The prior week had been a particular doozy with kid rehearsals, kid performances, volunteering at school, a work deadline, school functions, Mother’s Day, yada yada. #MayMadness

I don’t remember doing it, but at some point Past Me had seen that tight jumble of colorful squares on my calendar—all the working and schlepping and schmoozing—and said, “You know what Future Me is gonna need on Monday after a week and weekend like that? Some Rebound Time.” 

Rebound Time is pretty much how it sounds. Time dedicated to snapping back after a period of feeling incredibly stretched. 

Yes, I can wake up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday morning to organize then run a 5K with 20 elementary school girls, come home, get my daughter into costume and make-up for a performance, drive her up the freeway to the theater, answer a few emails and clean out my car while I’m waiting for the house to open, watch the performance, give hugs and praises, go home to get dressed and then go back out to socialize and schmooze all night at a School fundraising event, arriving home near ten, 16 hours later.

But if I expect to do that all on a Saturday and then run a similar routine on Sunday with Mother’s Day thrown in for good measure, I’m gonna need to schedule some time for recovering. 

What’s weird about Rebound Time is that it’s not just an absence of events and duties that refills my cup and replenishes me. I can fill a whole day of “nothing” with house chores and puttering and mindless scrolling, and not feel in the least bit replenished at the end of it. 

But a scheduled, mid-day Rebound block filled with an intentional activity can be surprisingly nourishing. (And fitting it in on a Monday afternoon feels positively radical!) It doesn’t have to be some hilltop spa or two-hour massage, either.

Know what I did with my Rebound Time last Monday? I went and got my car washed and vacuumed. While they were doing it, I wandered the gas station store and bought myself a ridiculous juice-type drink I never buy and treated myself to a few moments catching up on yummy Substacks. 

I drove away in my shiny, clean car feeling quite pleased with myself, feeling my capacity snapping gently back, ready for the next week of stretch.