The Perfect Sunday? Almost?
Most of my Sunday just come and go. I sleep through the afternoon and as soon as I am done deciding what to do, the date is already over. There is Monday right around the corner. And preparing for Monday takes precedence.
But not yesterday.
By sheer luck or my immense willpower, I went to bed at exactly 10 PM on Saturday the night before. There was perhaps no sleep on my eyes, the numerous distractions were calling out to me, but I stayed put in bed. Until the world went dark – meaning I slept (for people thinking I died 😅 )
I had turned off all alarms, so it would only be nature waking me up – or my urgency to cycle water from my body – which did its first call around 6:00 AM. Looking at the clock in the room, and seeing that it was just 6:03 AM, decided the call of nature was not loud enough. A few more calls later, I was finally out of bed and speeding for the the race of my life – which I won by the way leaving nature in the dust.
Now that I was awake, I noticed the time was 6:50 AM. The sun was almost up, but it was not bright or hot as a typical day would get. I did not even think once, changed clothes and off I went for my general 10 km cycle ride alone the reservoir close to me. It was one of the fastest times I took – about 38 min of moving based on strava and I was back by almost 7:40 AM.
So I was awake, and even did my daily exercise and it was still just the start of the day. I decided, lets make some tea to start the day, so I let some water boil and then I was like – water might take some time to boil, what can I do in the meantime. I mean who does something in between putting water in the kettle and having it come to a boil. It is like I could see me having the thought, but I could not fathom that I could have thoughts like this.
The sun was still not properly up, and I had a few minutes so I decided to put a batch of clothes for a wash. It did not take too long, as my dirty clothes are more organized compared to my clean clothes, and it was barely and inconvenience.
By the time the washing machine beeped and decided that it was ready to do the needful, the need for washed tea cups dawned on me. And even though the kettle had just gone off notifying me that the water was just boiled, I proceeded to wash some tea cups which were out and about.
Most teas anyways recommend adding less than boiling water to make the tea and some like white tea – need it at precisely at 95C – way below the boiling point.
Once the tea cups were washed, and water was at a good enough not so boiling temperature, I decided to brew some tea – Turkish apple tea to be precise. What better way to start your day than sipping a sweet fragrant tea which does not even have any real sugar? You ask “why no sugar?” probably because it the healthy kind of tea that has stevia in it.
Steeping the tea takes about 5-8 min. and there arose another time frame where there needed something to be done. This time, it was the plans who benefited. They got their weekly water and then a bit for liquid fertilizer on the side. Perhaps I should water them twice a week – but then what if they die due to over watering – perhaps I should invest in a soil humidity sensor? So many thoughts through my mind as I am watering the plants that face drought on a weekly basis – by the time I water them, their top soil is pretty dry and some leaves have started their melodramatic sacrifice for the plant, melodramatic as they will not just up and die and fall off, they have to get some small brown streaks, which will slowly spread through the leaf, in an artistic fashion, so as to remind you again an again about the very fact that you and you alone are the cause of this and you will watch this till it is over and you shall remember this for the rest of your life. Such a dramatic leaf right.
Right as I am done, my timer buzzes – yes I have a separate physical digital timer to track this, why would I use a phone timer to track this, I have specialized devices for specialized things – and it is time to let things be, sit at the sofa and calmly sip the morning sun into its max strength.
Once I am done enjoying the tea, the clothes are hung to dry and we delegate the drying to the bright hot sun. And it is only 9AM.
The day has just started, and I have already accomplished more than what I do on a complete weekend Saturday and Sunday.
Lets go all out I think to myself. Lets cook lunch.
At around 11 AM I decide what needs to be cooked and by 11:50 AM I am done.
By the time I used to wake up generally, I am now sitting with cooked quinoa, egg curry and charred – stir fry broccoli.
What more can I ask? Can this day get any better? How about not having any regrets for the rest of the day? I have done all that needed done, and the rest of the day I can do whatever – play games, watch TV series, watch mind-numbing youtube – and I do not feel bad for the wasted time, for I have done enough, I have done more than enough.
Perhaps next Sunday I try to do more than this. Perhaps I may not succeed. But knowing that this is possible gives me the enthusiasm to look forward to it, and at least try.