by Rosina Pzena, M.S.
With just a week left until September, I feel pulled in two different directions. On one side, I’m thinking I need to get myself together and be productive in my last week of relative freedom, and take care of things I won’t likely have time to do when I get back to the daily grind like cleaning out my closet. On the other side, I’m thinking I need to enjoy my last week of summer, take a few beach days, read a good book, and finish recharging before summer is completely over.
Many of us often feel this way during vacations— should we use our “free” time to address things in our lives that have been pushed to the back burner, or should we use it to truly relax and recharge? For me, if I choose the path of relaxation, I start to feel anxiety and think “I should’ve gotten more done this summer; I’ll never have time to complete these tasks, and that will be horrible!” The anxiety then keeps me from my original goal of relaxing, and I didn’t achieve EITHER goal! Knowledge of REBT helps me see that these thoughts are irrational – there is no reason I should’ve cleaned out my closet this summer, even though I wanted to, and while it may not be preferable, it certainly isn’t horrible if I don’t complete all these tasks. I can also reframe and remind myself that I am choosing to spend time on valuable self-care.
Once I replace those irrational beliefs, I’ll start to feel less anxious, and I might even realize a practical solution because the anxiety isn’t clouding my thinking! I can compromise with myself and spend maybe one or two days of this final week on one task, cleaning my closet, and the rest of the time I can focus on relaxing. Even if my closet isn’t completely cleared out, I’ll have made some progress and can feel satisfied as I head into work and school on September 1st.
