“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson
“How does it work for nights and weekends?”
The amount of free time we have – and what we choose to do with it – varies depending on the stage of training we are in and where we are located. A 16-hour day or similarly burdensome workload precludes any personal priorities, period. In contrast, the gift of a day off or early release during an uncomplicated instructional block results in spare time that is limited only by finances and logistics. A night off when we are already at an expenses-paid room in a metropolitan area is much different than when we are stuck on some compound in the middle of nowhere, hours away from any form of entertainment.
It’s a lot like school: Sunday night thru Thursday night most people are all about business. Working out, studying, eating, doing laundry, and attempting to reconcile personal tasks. Many are in the middle of selling/buying/renting/leasing a home or vehicle, moving to a different state, arranging for the care of children or pets, and being a parent/spouse/friend/family member. Each situation is unique and complicated enough; now compound that with time zone differences, confidentiality restrictions, and poor mobile device connectivity. Add the stress of what have essentially become long-distance relationships. Don’t forget the necessary amount of sleep to be functional the next day in an unforgiving training environment. Lastly, realize this is all theoretically a normal day and now think about how to manage the aforementioned stress on a bad day while staying in a strange place with a modified or absent support system. Then, just when it can’t seem to get worse, an illness or injury arises!
Enter Friday nights and Saturdays. The fun establishments open up and our stir-crazy bodies trickle into the outside world, primed to “brain dump” everything we learned in class the previous week. What I find to be both entertaining and nonsensical is how everyone tends to teleport off the training campus only to end up at the same place together in town, thus defeating half the purpose of “getting away”. The way our temporary homes become a ghost town is precisely why some people choose to stay behind on the weekends to relax. Everything gets so quiet that it becomes more peaceful than leaving. That being said, the only thing set in stone for my Saturdays and Sundays is an extra-long workout.
From fireside chats on the patio to riding rollercoasters at the nearest theme park, I am always open to anything that sounds appealing. Laser tag, street festivals, racing, golf, concerts, happy hour, museums, the beach, bowling, karaoke, shopping malls, kayaking, arcades, going to a game, art walks, zoos, hiking, and barbecues are just some of the ways we pass the limited downtime. You’ll notice we are strict to avoid doing anything in our free time that is even remotely work related. Work-life balance. That’s the key.
I put some additional pictures in the private photo gallery. I will add to this when the opportunity presents itself as we make our way through the training cycle.
The Dark Passport 