My lost weekends

There is a saying, “You don’t realize the importance of what you have, unless you lose it !”

In my context this lost thing was my weekends. From last 3 months I voluntarily took up the task of learning French on weekends. It was half day on Sat and half day on Sun.

The first thing sacrificed was the leisure of getting up on weekends at your will. I had to set an alarm and get up dot on time every weekend. If you do this on one weekend or two it’s ok. But doing this for 3 months at a stretch is a real toll.

Another task was revising the French textbook and doing home exercises. (Honestly I did not do much :-) ). But when it was preparing for exams, whole evening of Sat and Sun used to be diligently devoted.

With a 2.5 yrs kid who wanted his attention, to my wife (who never understood the need for learning a new language) I was torn between priorities. I tried to do justice to all the usual activities of a weekend, a bit of house hold chores, welcoming guests at home, visiting friends. And I ended up being as tired on a Sun evening as on Fri evenings after a tough work week.

The worst sacrifice was the dearest think for my soul. I call it “Listening to my Soul”.

On weekend when my wife and son are asleep, I relax in the balcony, sipping my espresso, without any agenda. It’s self-introspection, at a pace, which is the best for my biological clock. I just let myself loose.
When I stop resisting, its then I hear what my Soul wants to tell my mind. In other word it’s the Soul or Universe or God (I believe all there are synonyms) which takes control. And on a peaceful day, realization does beckon on me. It can be a past mistake which I just realized, or I a future plan which starts taking a shape.

Now the French classes are over. And this weekend was a completely free one.

This weekend seemed as if it lasted for many days. I could do so much.

This weekend

- I got up leisurely at (I don’t even know what time) may be 8:30 -9:00 am.

- I had breakfast without any hurry.

- I met my old friends over coffee, in our favorite joint.

- I let loose and automatically “Listened to my Soul.” And in 2 hours on Sat I wrote a high level Business Plan for a future entrepreneurship. (a seed sown for future)

- I watched news multiple times

- I had as many rounds of tea and coffee, relaxing in my balcony

- I updated my linkedin profile

- I went for a walk in the park

- I charged my toy helicopter and did takeoff and landings from dining table to my sofa

- And played with my son

- And the last thing, I am completing this blog.

In past before my French classes, so many full weekends passed by without doing anything relevant. And now that I was deprived for it for 3 months, you see how I enjoy getting my weekend back !

Mahtab Syed

29 May 2011