 |
| The scariest thing in the world might not be the Boogey Man! This artwork was created using MS Paint. |
We fight and Hail Mary our way through our work weeks, school weeks, or whatever weeks we have. Swinging for the fences, struggling, pulling ourselves from the comfort of sleep, we rise from our beds to face whatever it is we must. And some days we really don’t want to get up.
Through the trenches of our week, we hold out hope. While stuck out at sea, we peer towards the land in the distance---our weekend.
Some folks have full 2 day weekends, while others have none or maybe one day off. Some folks work intensely for 4 days a week and have 3 days off. Some professions work 24 hours on the job and 48 hours off. Either way, we all face variations on a theme: the times where we are held within a specific set of things we need to do, and the times where we get to choose (if we’re lucky and already have food, shelter, clothing, and all manner of basic needs met). We all hope for the days where we can turn the alarm clock off and go back to sleep---or better yet, kick the clock entirely.
Finally, we arrive! We’ve reached the final hurdle of our week and now are within grasp of the prize, the jewel we’ve hungered for all week. It’s ours! TGIF***!
Now what?
Could it be that when the initial high of having survived another week passes, that we feel a very subtle form of worry or regret? Now we have what we hoped for, and we have to do something with it. It’s a popsicle constantly melting.
Because we know the weekend (or variation) will end, maybe we become poverty-stricken, trying to stuff as many incredible experiences as we can in the day or days. Another option is to numb out as much as possible, doing as many things as we can to relax or distract ourselves from our experience. Either way, even on Saturday night, we begin to feel the dominoes tumbling in on us, the day of schedules and clocks is returning! The inevitably of the death of our weekend might make us so frantic we don’t even experience the gift we have.
I’ve heard folks say, “Man, what am I going to do with all this time off?” I’ve also heard other folks say, “I can’t wait to get to the weekend!”
What is your experience with time off? Do you plan what you’re going to do on a weekend, or do you coast? Do you experience mostly individual time, time with just another, or do you get together with a group? Is your experience totally different than the one described here? Share your experiences in the comments section!
***Or like some of the jobs I’ve had: TGIM, TGIT, or TGIW
