“The Weekend Is Over”

John (not his real name) was our transportation director at work. He was a fun guy and we enjoyed joking back and forth on a regular basis with the other coworkers who sat near us. His philosophy on weekends wasn’t intentionally pessimistic, but it did bring me down whenever he shared it. Unfortunately, he shared it quite often which is why I can quote it essentially word for word.

“Yeah, the weekend is essentially over Friday night when I go to bed. I take the wife out to dinner Friday night, then go home and have a nice glass of wine and a cigar. All day Saturday I’ll be working in the yard and on my wife’s ‘honey do’ list. And Sunday I’m getting ready to come back into the office the next day.”

That was the gospel according to John. His is a somewhat practical way of looking at the weekend, but I’m not especially fond of it. He’s letting unpleasant thoughts overshadow and ruin a potentially enjoyable time.

On the other hand, I’m the guy who eats the crust portion of the sandwich first so the middle is more enjoyable. I eat the edge pieces of brownies first for the same reason. When I go sledding, I prefer hills where you park at the bottom so the hike up comes before the ride down.

You get the idea: I like to get the unpleasant part out of the way first so I can really savor the good part. Not having the bad hang ominously over the good makes life more enjoyable.

The great thing about the “good part” vs. “bad part” is that it’s mostly in our minds. We control what we focus on and how we approach a situation.

Admittedly, Sunday evenings find me preparing mentally for the next day at work. But I enjoy the weekends more than John, and mine are 48 hours longer!