Serotonin Saturdays: Why & How I’ve Made Saturdays A No-Studying, Stay-In-Bed Session

With classes being online, I honestly thought my schedule would be more free with the opportunity to attend lectures asynchronously and being able to attend two Zoom meetings at the same time. However, it’s been the opposite. Because my classes are recorded, I decided to get a job and sign up for even more clubs. It seems as though every day is filled with something to do, and I always end up having to catch up on a week’s worth of class material. For this reason, I’ve now made it my priority to make Saturdays be my “off” days. 

The weekend doesn’t even feel like the weekend for me anymore. These two days are mostly spent on catching up on homework and assignments. Although I do have small breaks throughout the day, I don’t really get a full day for myself to just relax without having to worry about due dates. However, I’ve now deemed Saturdays as my stay-in-bed days. Although staying in bed all day may seem unproductive, it is very well-needed when the rest of the week is spent being productive. Sometimes I’d rather stay in bed than go out and socialize, and especially since we’re in a global pandemic, there’s not much to do anyway. So, staying in bed doesn’t seem like such a bad way to relax after all. There are so many options to pick from when staying in bed. I can watch movies and shows on Netflix, watch random videos on YouTube, scroll through TikTok, Facetime my friends, etc. Surprisingly, any of these options can take up the entire day for me, and I’m not ashamed to admit it! I could spend my whole Saturday watching shows on Netflix if I wanted to. Or, if I don’t want to watch anything or even talk to anyone, sleep is always the best option. Because I have to wake up early for work, it’s always a blessing when I can get in a couple of hours of sleep. Stay-in-bed Saturdays have surely helped me in relaxing and de-stressing.

To make my Saturdays free so that I can stay in bed all day, I’ve tried to organize my schedule better. My Saturdays used to consist of procrastinating on homework and other assignments, which was why I didn’t have the opportunity to take a break on the weekend initially. Now, I’ve made sure to put on my calendar the days and times I work so that I can manage my classes and extracurriculars around work. I set time ranges to estimate the amount of time that club meetings and assignments will take. This has helped me tremendously because the time ranges motivate me to finish my work in that frame. Even if I don’t finish, overestimation of the ranges gives me ample time to turn in my work before the due date. Furthermore, I’ve planned my days so that I can start on assignments early and turn them in early. Although my calendar may be filled from Sunday to Friday, Saturday is empty. 

College is stressful, and surprisingly, online school makes it even more stressful. Having to keep track of more due dates and online programs while making sure that I don’t get Zoom fatigue, the online format has indeed made me even busier. This has transitioned into having work to do over the weekend despite the weekend being a supposed break. Having to worry about due dates every day is mentally draining, which is why Saturdays are now my days to freely be unproductive without guilt. Instead, Saturdays now fill me with serotonin from being stress-free and staying in bed.

• bed
• home
• movies
• relax
• relaxation
• Saturday
• serotonin
• session
• sleep
• stay
• stress-free
• weekend