We often feel pressed for time. But every four years, we get a one-day windfall.
How often have you griped that you don’t have enough time — for exercise, sleep, relaxing with your kids?
This year is a leap year, so we get a bonus day! (We wish it was a Saturday tacked onto June, rather than a Monday in February, but we’ll take it.)
What will you do with 2016’s spare day? Ideas for putting these precious extra 24 hours to good use:
- Read a book, or at least start the one you’ve been neglecting on your nightstand.
- Start a new exercise routine, or shake up your usual one with something new.
- Try a new recipe. Good picks for midwinter? Slow cooker stews, an alternative lasagna, or savory breakfast items. Or just pack tomorrow’s sack lunch.
- Sign your children up for summer camp. Yes, registrations for many camps start in winter.
- Save a life.
- Join a running group.
- Play with your children or grandchildren. A spring thaw allows lots of local fun.
- Prepare for an upcoming vacation.
- Destress.
- Walk somewhere new. These state parks have great hiking trails. It’s always smart to call ahead to check on wintertime trail conditions.
- Have deep, meaningful conversations with your kids. OK, maybe just get two sentences out of them.
- Make today your quit-smoking day.
- Start tracing your family’s health history. Here’s a helpful tool.
- Adopt a dog.
- Child-proof your house, or your parents’, with an eye toward medications, to prevent children from getting into them.
- Find some support if you’re caring for an aging relative, so you don’t burn out.
- Eat dinner with your family.
- Practice gratitude.
- Get a good night’s sleep. Some evening yoga might help.
And if somehow today doesn’t magically feel like a leisurely extra 24 hours at all — sigh — we get it. Fall back on these tricks for squeezing in exercise when there’s just no time. Happy Leap Day!
