Leap of faith: How to make the most of February 29 – Independent.ie

Question: What do you do with the extra hour in your day when the clocks go back in the Autumn? Do you relish a lie-in without guilt, or make a concerted effort to be more productive? Me, I'm in the latter camp. I prefer to make that (sort of) extra hour count. There's no nicer feeling than getting the big shop in, doing the housework and tackling life admin, then to look at the clock to see that it's still only 2pm.

look at Leap Day pretty much the same way. You do have to wonder; why isn't Leap Day a holiday day, coming as it does once every four years? I've even got a name for it: Mayfly Day, named after the insect that only lives for one day, but pretty much parties like it's 1999 for its 24-hour life expectancy.

It's really just a thing the inventors of the Gregorian calendar did to make up for the fact that the earth doesn't take exactly 365 days to circle the sun (it's more like 364.242, supposedly).

Fine, it means one more day until the end of winter and beginning of spring. But still, a whole extra day in the calendar to make everything better! I won't be proposing marriage to anyone and I won't be at the '10th' official birthday party of a fortysomething friend. But I do intend to make the most of it.

It should be enshrined in law (or at least, culture) that Leap Day offers us a chance to do things we might not ordinarily do. You know, the things we always say we will, but never find the time for? Wouldn't that be a nice doff of the cap to our Gregorian calendar-creating forebears?

So this Saturday, I'm kicking things off by tackling what's been left on the long finger. Stuff I've idly sworn I'd do, but never get around to.

Kondo-style clearout

I've been meaning to haul books, clothes and shoes to the charity shop for as long as I can remember. Parting with your stuff is never fun, but you can't beat that feeling when you can see long-forgotten bits of the carpet again. You don't need to be a feng shui master to know that a cleaner-looking space is genuinely energising.

Open-air market

Next up, I plan to hit an open air market, like the food market that happens every Saturday in Temple Bar or the Cow's Lane market not far off. Markets hit my blind spot and I always say that it's something I will get around to.

Culture hit

The other pursuit that often becomes the first casualty of a frantically busy life is culture. How many times have you told yourself you'll visit a gallery or lunchtime theatre spot, but your plans get squeezed out by daily life? There is probably a single word in German for the feeling that you get when you walk into the National Gallery or Museum of Literature and you feel so good that you wonder why you don't do it more often. Well, I'm going to wrong that right with some free art.

Pampering

Self-care has also, alas, gone by the wayside, as it often does when you have a young family and full-time job. I won't be able to languish the afternoon away in a day spa, more's the pity, but I can try some 'micro' self-care. A hot-oil hair treatment (1 minute), a sheet mask (10 minutes), a foot scrub (five minutes) oh, and shaving my legs, which seems like a major personal indulgence since I became a mum 12 months ago.

Turn the page

I also dream of finally tackling the growing pile of unread magazines and Sunday newspaper supplements teetering on my bedside locker. There are Grazias there since August that haven't yet been opened. Fine, the trends are probably on the way out by now, but getting through this to-be-read pile seems like a goal worth tackling.

There are dozens of other things you could try on 'Mayfly' day like: making a recipe out of the cookbook you bought with great intentions in January; getting around to creating that vegan meal you said you would attempt; using the pricey bubble bath you're keeping for 'special occasions'; watching the worthy foreign film that always loses out in the Netflix toss-up between it and a frothy rom-com (don't lie, this happens all the time). Just make February 29 the day that you live your best life, if only daily life didn't get in the way. It's probably what our Gregorian forebears would want.

Irish Independent

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Leap of faith: How to make the most of February 29 - Independent.ie