In western culture many would say ‘Happy Friday’ or ‘I can’t wait for the weekend’. What is the attraction with the last two days of the week and why are we racing to get there?
‘How was your weekend?’ you may be asked or ‘any plans?’. The weekend is a time when people like to rest, relax and spend time with loved ones. To just generally take a moment to socialise, catch up on sleep and let go of the weekdays. Many feel the weekend is a reward. It is a sense of relief to have some time out by not working. So then we might ask, why do we need this relief? What happens for us at work, to need a break? Why is work so exhausting to then have to have this time to recover?
5 Reasons why we live for the weekend.
1. Retreat
Human beings love to step away from what it is they have, sometimes begrudgingly, stepped into. Humans like to step back and away and disconnect from the work and the time constraints that they have been locked into. There is a lack of true commitment in that, and yes we understand. You can feel it when the cashier says, in a relieved voice, that they only have one more hour before they finish work, whilst you stand in front of them and you can’t help but feel the fact that, in that moment, you are not their focus, care nor their priority.
2. Responsibilities
People love the weekend because it gives them time away from commitments and responsibilities and accountability. On the weekend we consider that we are free, that we have a choice. That somehow being irresponsible is a positive desire and more acceptable in our society.
3. Sleep
Sleeping in. It’s almost a sport. This can seem like a very simple concept but people like to stay up late at night and then sleep in in the morning. The late nights could be to party, drink, movie binge or just delay the end of the day. This once again is a form of retreating or checking out, letting go of rituals, letting go of the rhythms and the flow of the weekdays.
4. Socialising.
Time with friends and family becomes a priority on the weekend. We get space to be with our loved ones, we get to indulge, drink, shop, exercise, let it all hang out, have fun. We think we are being free. But what is the definition of freedom if it compromises the body in any way?
5. Escape.
The weekend is the end of the working week. It is the time to ‘check out’, the time to let go and the time to ignore, not think about the kind of work we do so much.
Could the reason that we long for the weekend
be more about the reason that we don't enjoy working?
If we actually enjoyed working and lived in a way that supported us in our working conditions, we would be less likely to need to escape. In fact, living in a more supportive way to the body would bring us a lot of joy and care. This would ask us to be present, to want to feel healthy and vital, to have great connections with other people, to develop and deepen our craft and our ways of expressing how we work. If all of these things were our priority and we truly enjoyed working, we would not sit across from each other and say, I cannot wait for the weekend. In the usual beliefs and ideals of humanities concept of work. What does work represent?
Work represents hardship.
Work represents a burden.
Work represents boredom.
Work represents anxiety.
Work represents responsibility.
Work represents dogma.
Work represents a lack of choice.
Work represents a lack of love.
Is it any wonder we long for relief?
In order to regain the true balance between work and weekends, we must be in the true purpose, the present moment, in the care of work to then feel the purpose and the care of the weekend.
In truth, the days of the week are purely a manmade illusion.
We really only have one day that opens
and closes with a rising and setting of the sun.
We don't go anywhere in a linear fashion
but simply expand each ‘one’ day.
5 Ways we can live for the weekday ~ flip the ‘work’ paradigm
1. Hard Work.
Bring into your working week the joy of working hard. The truth is, the way you contribute to the world matters deeply. Appreciate it, in all its finest detail, that which you bring to humanity. This may take a moment of reflection. What is your profession? How does it support the world to operate? No matter what that job is that you do, grand or humble, you are needed. You are needed for your expression, your unique flavour, your skills, your beautiful qualities as a being.
2. Be well.
Bring into your working week a healthy and alive body. Being tired, run-down, therefore stressed and anxious, will never make work life feel simple and enjoyable. If we are tired we are always looking for relief or distraction. Get some sleep my friend. Your body will thank you.
Being well may also mean taking a look at your daily rhythms, rituals and flow and building on this to support you throughout the weekdays and weekend. Every body loves consistency. The body doesn’t stop and start according to the day of the week. It has an ebb and flow, natural cycles that work within and with nature and a magnificence that has no time constraints.
3. Rules Apply.
Rules and constraints at work may not feel true but why react to them and therefore let them dominate you? Work with what you have got and bring all your unique flair into the tasks and duties required within that time frame. Then you will feel more space open up. The fewer reactions we have to the rules, the more we can enjoy being ourselves and working with what’s been offered. Surrender to the purpose, and magic will happen through your movements.
4. Align to what?
Choice? Who’s got a choice? Stop. Take a step back and consider if there is joy in the way you move at work? Then know that, no matter what the task is, you will always have the choice to align to a quality of movement, whilst doing the task. Stop the drive, raciness, hardness or given up attitude. Bring love to your work. That’s right. Love who you are, connect to your customers, colleagues and school friends. Bring love into your workplace. Not emotional love, because that’s not true love, but deep care and steadiness within your body. Love the way you walk and talk and shuffle papers. Love the way you handle goods, tap on your keyboard, sit during a meeting, drive your vehicle.
The more we connect in a genuine way
to who we are and therefore others,
the more we will enjoy all the tasks at hand.
5. Stay Present.
The next time you sit at your desk and you think to yourself ‘I cannot wait for this day to end’ take a moment and consider why you feel that way and what is going on in your body. Why do you need to ‘check out’ or need relief from what you are doing? Do you express how you feel? Are you honest? Are you being yourself?
Are you bored, if so why? Every single moment is a precious moment in your life and the more we are connected to who we are and the movements within our own bodies, the more we will enjoy every moment and not just wait for the weekend to escape and ultimately wish our lives away.
Why not do a check-in as you finish work on Friday and walk through the door, not with relief and to escape, but with a sense of completion and expansion from one moment to the next?
Living for the one day.
The weekend can offer us space to rejuvenate and reset. It can give us an opportunity to reflect on our working week and respond to what is required to support ourselves for the coming week.
The weekend is a flowing part of the ongoing daily activities
of this one day we have compartmentalised into seven. We are not living different lives we are living one continual life for lifetimes,
so it all matters, all of the time.
Love the weekend by loving yourself and then when Monday comes around again in the blink of an eye, embrace it knowing that you are fresh, equipped, ready and able to enjoy the working week with love and purpose and a deep knowing that the way you work, play and ultimately impact others around you, contributes to the workings of the world.