Eight Hour Shifts

I feel quite confident that my day today was more than 24 hours. The funny thing about not working (I took today off to deal with life stuff) is that time boundaries become blurred. At work, you know that you are at least starting with an eight hour work day (Okay, well, many of the jobs I've had started with a 12). You know that you are traveling a certain amount to and a certain amount from, and you know that you will have a "shift" before work, getting your household out the door, and a "shift" after work, dealing with homework and dinner. Sure, things may spill over. You may work longer. The evening "shift" may run longer than you'd like. But you more or less know how your day will break down.
 
On a day off, particularly one taken for the purpose of getting things done, there aren't really shifts. There are just tasks and an urgency to use every minute, and stretches of time not really broken up by defined periods of travel. You'd think that a work day feels long, just by virtue of it being work. But a day off, at least in this case, can feel like three. (Even my son commented at the end of the day about how it had felt like more than one day).
 
I would like to think that my feeling of a more than 24 hour day means that I accomplished a tremendous amount. Perhaps that is true. But if you think you are surviving work all week, just waiting for the days to be over, try taking a "get things done" day. It'll make those work days look a lot more like the 8ish-hour days they really are.