5 Reasons Why Your Lazy Sunday On The Sofa Is Entirely Justified

Unsplash/Roberto Nickson

Maybe you had the workweek from hell, or maybe you just don’t feel like braving the harsh winter elements for one more minute. Either way, one thing holds true: You’re headed for a perfectly lazy weekend and no one can talk you out of it.

So we’re not even going to try.

Instead, we’re going to encourage you to indulge in all that free time and reap as many benefits from it as you can. Because there are a quite a few amazing upsides to this kind of laziness we rarely hear about. Here are some of our favorites.

1. You probably need some R&R anyway.

Unsplash/Mc Jefferson Agloro

It’s important to know how to work hard, but it’s also important to know how to relax. We millennials spend so much time seeking out self-care Instagram influencers and the perfect products to help us find a sense of chill, but we rarely allocate enough hours in the week for the actual relaxation part of the equation. The urge to have a total veg-out Sunday stems from that imbalance. It’s the body’s way of telling us that it’s ready for a break. So it’s entirely okay to give in and provide our bodies with what they need.

2. Idle time gives the mind much-needed room to wander.

Unsplash/Tachina Lee

It’s amazing how “doing nothing” can help us reopen the parts of our brains that are typically bogged down by daily workloads, to-do lists, stresses and commitments. When all of those aspects of life finally drift onto the backburner, our creativity and imagination and inner voice are given enough room to take center stage and shine. And before we know it, that so-called bout of laziness has led us down a brand new thought path or brought us our next amazing idea. What’s so lazy about that?

3. Taking some down time prevents burnout.

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Can we really be surprised that we feel exhausted by the time the weekend rolls around? As a generation, we are notoriously horrible at taking the vacation days we’ve earned, so we wear ourselves thin even sooner and experience burnout much faster than generations that came before us. If a lazy Sunday is our strange way of enjoying paid time off, so be it. Bask in the “me” time that you 100 percent own, be it on your couch or on a tropical island somewhere. It’s your call. Just make sure you take the time.

4. You can be lazy and still have something to show for your time.

Unsplash/Alice Hampson

Just because we’re couch-bound doesn’t mean that our brains just shut off. A Netflix binge could lead us to some thought-provoking documentaries, and our bookshelves could hold some mighty captivating stories for us to explore. If we include our smartphones in the mix, the opportunities really are endless. Catching up with a long-distance friend or family member helps us regain a sense of connectedness with our world, and even social media can help us ponder some of our most deep-rooted life ambitions. Just take your pick.

5. You’re guaranteeing yourself the best Monday ever.

Unsplash/Brooke Lark

Possibly the best part of a totally chill Sunday is its uncanny ability to fully reboot our minds and bodies for the new week ahead. We start Monday by bounding into our morning workouts, that first cup of coffee seems to carry us a lot further in the day and we just get so much much shit done at the office in a matter of hours. It’s amazing what quality rest time can accomplish when we just give in to its temptations and do what we know we really should do.