Friday, July 19, 2013

Yes, it's Friday



Realistically, Friday is the best day of the week, and I'll tell you why. For those of us who work Monday through Friday, our last day of the work week is Friday, so the immediate and obvious value is in knowing our work week is done...until next week anyway. I find that a lot of people like Saturdays more, and while there is a certain bit of sense to that notion, let me suggest a different view.

All too often, at least for me, Saturdays are filled with all the work you must do at home that you cannot get done during the week, because of your job. Saturdays are also the day that a lot of sports events take place for your kids and grand kids, which occasionally requires a bit of traveling to boot. It's the day you do your errands around town, get your shopping done and fix your car. Sometimes, Saturdays are more tiring than Fridays!

As I see it, work is hard enough for most people, so weekends should be cherished and used to unwind. It would appear to me that for some, weekends are as much work, if not more so, than their work weeks. This might sound like you and your experience but it's not all bad news. For one, weekends can be regained through some simple steps, but seeing Friday differently is where it all starts. Friday is the catalyst, if you will, of a well spent weekend. If you work Saturdays then just ignore this entire post, I’ll deal with you later.

Imagine that Fridays are like your second to last night on a tropical island vacation. If you’re like me, you would be packing on the last night of your vacation, but on the second to last night you would enjoy the sunset, eat outside, talk freely, sit back and relax. You would stay up late, sleep in the next morning and dress comfortably for the day. You would enjoy your breakfast, maybe catch up on a book and possibly go for a walk before the heat of the day. And all of that would be possible because of a Friday night that was free of anxiety.

Somewhere along the way I decided that Friday nights were the best nights for going out. It was the culmination of a work week and the start of something great, namely the weekend. So, in order to celebrate, Friday night became something special. It doesn’t always mean going out to dinner, sometimes it’s a picnic at the park or a movie rental, but it’s always something outside of the usual day to day routine. By setting the tone for my weekend with something fun on Friday evening, I diffuse a lot of the stresses that my work week builds up. When Saturday morning comes I grab it with a completely different enthusiasm.

Basically, you can’t have Saturday without Friday; the one simply has to come before the other. Given this slightly obvious fact, take hold of your Friday nights and use them like the diving boards they are, so you can jump into your weekend on a high.

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