Weekends... and Self Improvement.

Weekends are an interesting construction. Americans feel entitled to them and have likely lived with them long enough to take them for granted. The whole week is given an emotional structure based on what we're supposed to feel on the weekend. But, the weekend is a more recent construction than I had originally thought: with religious origins (of course, for days of worship) but more formally related to worker's unions.

According to Wikipedia (for some light research into the topic), the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America demanded and received a five day work week in 1929. Nationwide, the weekend wasn't fully integrated until 1940. Wikipedia says these claims need citation. According to Weekend America, even the word 'weekend' didn't exist until the 1870s. (Weekend America confirms Wikipedia's assertions) The weekend started at first to give workers time to attend worship services and spend time with their families. Sunday was easy to grant, given the large percentage of Christians; Saturdays were harder, given the lower percentage of Jews. As Weekend America points out, if the Jew's religious observance occurred on Wednesday, we would have had Wednesday off and there would be no two-day weekend.

The weekend was set up as a time for relaxation, to be spent with family and or at worship. With the weekend, we gained an emotional pattern for the whole week to follow: Sunday for rest and worship (Christians), Monday for getting back to the grind, Tuesday a continuation of Monday but without the meetings, Wednesday as "hump" day metaphorically coming over the rise to look downhill toward Thursday which is still part of the work week but with the end in sight, Friday to tie up loose ends at work and feel that sense of accomplishment for a week completed, and Saturday for goofing off. Tensions start low on the weekend, rise over the week, and fall again toward the weekend in a seemingly eternal cycle of ups and downs. I just want to remind folks that this cycle is of our own construction.

There is absolutely no reason to feel entitled to a weekend, or even for that matter to feel obligated to enjoy them. That isn't to say that we shouldn't enjoy our weekends, but we shouldn't enjoy them any more than any other day. Beyond our little social circle of life, the earth turns and shows a particular point to the sun on a fairly regular basis. The sun won't shine any brighter on a weekend than it does during the week. As far as business is concerned, the importance of the weekend is fading as workers begin to leave behind religious traditions of weekly worship. When I was young, even restaurants were closed on Sundays; now it is difficult for waitresses to schedule two days off in a row. Other types of business, with less open to the public front end operations, still close on weekends as long as it is convenient for them to do so. Those workers that make sure to take religious leave on days of worship are gladly supplanted by those who don't. And still the entitlement to a weekend persists.

The feeling of obligation to enjoy a weekend can be taxing in the same way that trying too hard to enjoy a vacation can be. There is potential for anxiety and guilt associated with doing "weekend things". If you don't do those "weekend things" during the weekend, you have to wait until next weekend. You may miss the opportunity to take advantage of nice weather by going outside to enjoy your activity of choice, especially if you planned something like a movie marathon or video game tournament. Your picnic plans may be ruined by bad weather. Any number of unexpected events may upset the plans you had for your special two days.

I personally am an example of what can happen when the sense of entitlement to free time and especially weekends goes too far. I go to school during the day, work hard while I'm there, and resent any intrusions into my freedom after school hours have ended. At work it is easy to work hard but, my chores have been piling up for months now because I feel a need to do things for myself that I am interested in doing. I feel that somehow, writing this blog will be more satisfying than having clean dishes. Reading trumps laundry. Guitar practice beats out dusting. I get by on the bare minimum of chores because I have designated all time outside of work and school as mine. Indeed, I have been encouraged to believe that through subtle and sometimes unsubtle appeals of media, friends, and my own pleasure seeking self. This is an extreme case, surely, but one that inevitably demonstrates that entitlement to free time and relaxation can become a very ugly scene.

There must be a way to escape this. I have to change my thinking about the week and weekends in order to change my feelings and behaviors. I have to remember that all days are no more than the turning of the earth. I have the weekend to use at my discretion because of a tradition started by workers unions little more than one hundred years ago. I have every moment to choose how I use my time, not just on the weekends, but all the time. I can choose to skip class for a bike ride. I can choose to use a cloudy day for chores. I can choose to impose a work schedule on myself that fills the gaps in my obligations to others with obligations to myself. Above all else, I can choose to enjoy my week. The weekend shall nevermore hold sway over me. That up and down cycle can become a passage of pleasant days. I enjoy good work, why not enjoy more of it? I can turn my life into a project, so that every moment I am thinking of how to improve myself and enjoy doing it. I can turn my energy to productive goals, and increase the level of standard upkeep along the way. I must make myself see that it will be a slow process. I have a lot of catching up to do, after all.

I hope that more than myself will be able to see what I am seeing now and hope to continue seeing in the future. Every day is a day to be treasured, to be enjoyed, to be experienced, and to be utilized for the betterment of the self. I had known this before, but thought it to suffice to expand my mind with my free time. That's silly. Time isn't free. It shouldn't matter what day of the week it is, or what we do during that day, as long as it is progressive. Work, play, studies, creative expression, all are experiences that can fill our time. It's time to stop taking our weekends for granted. Simply because traditions says we don't have to go to work, doesn't mean we shouldn't spend the time working.