Honestly, when a Friday night rolls around, I don’t want to spend it with people – I want to spend it alone.

Don’t get me wrong-spending time with people you love is wonderful, and something that I greatly enjoy doing. I’d just rather do it any other night of the week.

There’s just something about taking the very end of the work week to spend some time by yourself. The time between the end of a busy week and the beginning of the weekend is precious, and too frequently it goes unnoticed or wasted. I find that by taking these hours and spending them alone, my weekend is sweeter, and the weight of the week gets washed away.

How do I spend my Friday nights alone?

Three ways:

THE PRODUCTIVE NIGHT

Some Friday nights are spent knocking out my to do list. Mountains of homework? Done. Laundry? Done. Cleaning? Double check.

If you have things to get done, it’s extremely satisfying to get them out of the way before the weekend. That way, you’re ready to step into your Saturday relaxed and ready to go.

THE SELF-CARE NIGHT

Mud masks and doing my nails? Yes and yes. Sometimes, it’s important to just simply take some time to care for yourself.

Self-care takes whatever form you want. There are nights where this looks like painting my nails while on the phone with my sister. Other nights, this means I pull out my guitar or write lyrics and poetry deep into the night. Whatever makes you feel like a better human, do that thing.

THE NETFLIX AND LITERALLY CHILL  NIGHT

Finally, sometimes you just need to chill. Like, LITERALLY chill. There’s nothing wrong with taking a Friday night to drop what you’re doing and watch Netflix or read a good book. We spend too much time in motion – we need to learn to take some time to stop.

To be honest, I usually end up pulling these three together. Tonight has been a conglomeration of chilling out, doing things that I enjoy, and getting my to do list knocked out. Some nights may just be straight up one way, others may be a combination – whatever works, works.

Fridays are my favorite nights to take alone, but this concept applies to literally any evening out of the week. The important part is to step away and spend some time by yourself. You’ll be better for it.