A Minimalist Sabbath: 7 Suggestions

Give yourself a break! Seriously, take a break, a real one. Don’t just “take five” or stretch your legs. If you want to stay fresh and productive and balanced in both your professional and personal life, I strongly encourage you to take a full day off (yes, all 24 hours) from your “regular” life once a week.

The word “Sabbath” is used most often in a religious context, but you don’t need to be religious to get the benefits of having a weekly Sabbath (or free day) in your life. It’s important to find a day when you can remove yourself from work and errands and all the busyness of regular daily life (even the most experienced minimalists get bogged down at times).

Jews and Seventh Day Adventists observe Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, most Christians observe on Sunday and Muslims on Friday. If you don’t follow a religious tradition or one with a tradition of a weekly Sabbath, then just pick a day, any day. It’s probably easiest to pick the same day that most of your community observes a Sabbath since it’s likely that some businesses will be closed anyways, but it’s entirely up to you. Just do it.

My own Sabbath observance has varied over the years. Sometimes I observed in a traditional orthodox Jewish way and at other times, I barely observed at all. These days my Sabbath observance falls somewhere in the middle, but I never skip it.

My years in graduate school confirmed the benefits of keeping a weekly Sabbath in some way. It was a crazy, stressful time, even before I had two babies. That first semester it was all I could do to take Friday evening off. I studied and worked on papers for most of the weekend and come Monday, I was already burned out. At the semester break, I decided to add in Saturday, at least until mid-day. By summer, I was still exhausted. So, too, were my fellow grad students, some of whom did not return in the fall (in my experience, students quit due to burnout, not lack of ability). By my third semester, I was also contemplating an exit. I realized that I couldn’t continue working at such an intense pace and survive grad school.

Since then, I have observed a full 24+ hour Sabbath every week. Admittedly, I could be better at saving some errands and tasks for another day, but I keep them to a minimum. I do minimal housework. I run minimal errands. I do no paid work at all. This means that I have to be organized and plan ahead. I realized all those years ago when life was a bit crazy as a student or later as a single mom that I could manage just about anything during the week knowing that I had a day off coming up.

What does a minimalist Sabbath look like? Whatever you want it to look like! Here are a few suggestions:

Keep all the “musts” to a minimum.
Focus on family and friends and experiences.
Start by omitting one disliked task – for example, no laundry. Once you have that down pat, take away another task.
Take a break from social media, email, or mindless games on your devices.
Add in something pleasant – for example, visit or call a friend, read a novel, watch a movie.
Don’t forget about “me time”! Try to find some time just for yourself.
Make the day special in your own unique way!

Remember – it should not become a day of “shoulds.” Just take it easy. We all deserve a break to just be.