Try Living for Now and Not the Weekend

How many times have you felt like this?: It's Sunday night and you've had a good weekend with your friends. Maybe you went out for a drink or 10 with your mates or maybe you spent a nice weekend in the house family or someone close. However, no matter how much we try and fight it, it's Monday tomorrow which means going back to university, college or work and you start to hate Sundays all over again. It rolls into Monday morning with an early start and the feeling that you are stuck to your bed - you have to get up though because that's what we have to do on weekdays. You say your hello's when you see you're friends for the first time since Saturday night and you are immediately hit with the awesome news: you're going out again at the weekend. It's someone's birthday (not that you even know them) and you've been asked by a friend of a friend - of course you'll go! And then it happens. My least favourite words in the world at the start of the week: 'I can't wait until the weekend!'. Is your life really that bad that Monday to Thursday can now race past? All you are going to be thinking about this week now is where you are going and who is going to be there. Is that hot girl or guy going as well? What should I wear? How am I getting home? All I want to ask in return is what you are having for lunch today.

Don't get me wrong, I love the weekend as much as the next person. I go out with mates at the weekend; I get to spend time at home with my parents; the weekend means that there is a full card of football on (except when the snow comes and ruins everything!) but most of all it means that I can look back over the last week and take stock of everything that happened. The weekend also allows me to look ahead to the next week and what I've got to get done (and what I've got planned) during it. For me, the weekend is a time for relaxation and reflection mixed in with some fun. Therefore what is my problem?

Now, back to the above scenario and lets have a look at it from a different perspective. It's Monday and you're looking back on what was a great weekend - but you're also looking forward to the week that is in front of you. There are whispers of something happening next weekend but it's too far away for you to think about just now because there are things to get done. Someone suggests that you go out for a drink or two tonight - you'll see how you feel later. It gets to Monday night and you've managed to get everything done you had planned for the day. You feel great and then you have a quick glance at what you've got on tomorrow: it's a busy day but you should be able to fit everything in just fine. Do you see where this is going? In this paragraph I've managed to loosely describe a run-of-the-mill start to the week but the important thing is that I only made it to Monday night. There are still 4 more days before Mr Hangover even thinks to get out of bed again. Get my point?

Minus the weekend we get 120 hours in the 5-day week. We spend about 40 of those sleeping and about 15-20 procrastinating, leaving a nice round sum of approximately 60 hours with which to enhance our lives before the weekend even begins. A wise friend of mine said the other day that we should live for the now and not the weekend - I'm in debt for the inspiration for this post. It's Wednesday night and I'm looking forward to the next 2 days - who knows what the weekend will hold?

Cheers,

Martin