Tag Archives: weekend

Extra down time

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It’s Sunday night and tomorrow is a holiday. I will be doing pushups for a monthly challenge, and meditating before bed, but I will be skipping my cardio workout today. No guilt, I’ve worked out every day since my last workout missed on January 27th, and I’m not up to getting my heart rate up before bed.

I feel like the Sunday of a long weekend is a very special kind of down time. A day like today was spent being productive, doing things that I like to do but seldom have time. I also got laundry done and it didn’t feel like a chore. I also just finished watching a couple episodes of a show my wife and I have been watching together.

…And I still have another whole day off! It seems like every long weekend I’ve been writing about how much I value 3 days off. It makes me wonder if we will ever see a shift away from the traditional Monday to Friday work week?

Even if it does change, education will probably be a last bastion of the 5-day week. Until it’s normal for everyone, kids need supervision during the work day. So from now until I retire you can expect a little social commentary on the joys of a three day weekend almost every time they come up.

4 day weekend

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We went away for the 4-day weekend. We took the ferry Thursday night after work, headed to Vancouver island, and came back Monday. We spent 3 nights in Victoria visiting my daughter and a night in Nanaimo visiting my wife’s parents.

I’m amazed how long this break felt. It was wonderful to get away for this little holiday. I feel like I’ve had a real break. I feel fresh and ready to start the week… and it’s a short week!

If I were to redesign the school year, I’d make the summer shorter and make every other weekend a 4-day weekend. Instead of a set 4-day week, with the same day off every week, like every Friday, I’d run a long weekend like this one we just had, with Monday and Friday off, then I’d run a regular 2-day weekend, then I’d run another 4-day weekend. Each week would only be 4 days long, but the weekends would alternate between 2 days and 4 days off, rather than repeated 3-day weekends.

I’d give up on a long summer holiday to run a schedule like this. 2-3 times a year these extended weekends could be scheduled school events like field trips with students, for things like visiting the capital or camping. Or maybe just the 2-day weekend, where students have 10 straight days of school with a special event in the middle.

But more than that, I think I’d be refuelled and ready for anything after a bi-monthly 4-day weekend. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this wasn’t better for students too. While this is unlikely to happen, I’d just like to say that I’m thankful for this break and I’m ready to jump back in and have a great week at school.

4-day weekend

I’m looking forward to the Easter Break! Having both the Friday and Monday off is a treat. A 3-day weekend is nice, but getting that extra days makes this break special. It becomes a ‘real’ break where I know that I can actually let go of thinking about work. It allows true down time.

I find that a 4th day makes the break into a real holiday… and I can come back to work refreshed. I’d give up my second week of holidays at Christmas so that I could get a few more 4-day weekends throughout the year. I’m not sure that would be popular with everyone, but it would be ideal for me… Mini holidays throughout the year! Am I the only one that thinks this is a good idea?

4-day work week

Maybe it’s my age, but I really wish the work week was just 4 days long. Too often a weekend feels too short. It’s not even about rest, it’s about wanting to do more in such a short time.

We’ve had a few 3-day weekends recently and I’ve really noticed a significant difference compared to this past 2-day weekend. I got stuff done beyond the ‘need to do’ stuff when I had one more day.

I don’t know the history behind the 5-day work week, and frankly I don’t care to look it up. It doesn’t matter what the reason was, it just doesn’t seem necessary anymore. Add an hour a day to the school day, Monday to Thursday, and Fridays get added to the weekend.

What would it take to make this happen? Whose game to try?

An extra day

This past weekend was a 3-day weekend, and it was wonderful to get the extra day off. I feel like I had a holiday. It’s amazing the difference between a two-day and a three-day weekend. If I were ever to start a company, I think I’d institute a 4-day work week.

I’m looking forward to work today. I feel well rested. I have thought about some goals I really want to get to. I finished an audio book that I had about 10 hours to listen to at the start of the weekend.

How different would life be if the work week was just 4 days long? Would people be more productive either at work or at home? Would happiness be greater or would people fall into a similar pattern of happiness that we have now? What would a world with 4 day weeks do to the overall creativity expressed by people?

I’d love to see an entire country try this out. I think the first thing you’d notice is positive immigration… I know I’d like to live there!

Weekend Blahs

Feels like a rinse and repeat kind of day. Motivation is low, couldn’t sleep past 5:45am, but haven’t done anything for a couple hours while up. Sure I’ll get this written, I’ll meditate, I’ll get on the exercise bike for 20 minutes, and listen to my audio book. Sure I’m entitled to have a lazy Saturday morning or a lazy whole day. That’s all well and good. But I have to say that coming up on 2 years of pandemic mode has me a bit worn out.

It’s like a heightened sense of being ‘on alert’ for longer than is natural. It doesn’t help that at work, I’ve had to read pages and pages of information about changes to how we need to operate, and there are new daily reports to run and to fill out. I feel more like a safety officer than a school principal.

I’m glad it’s the weekend. I don’t think this would have been a productive day at work. I’m just going to have a blah kind of Saturday, and I’m going to do it guilt free. On my agenda today after my healthy living routine is a whole lotta nothing. Yup, it’s going to be a blah day, but also a good day:)

Look up

It’s a long weekend, and I’m thankful for the extra day. As I summarized in a Twitter reply to someone yesterday, “On the ‘blah’ scale of 1-10, I’ve been a solid 9 all weekend.“. I ended the day yesterday passed out on the couch with my workout clothes on, and no workout started.

I feel cooped up, motivation is low, and I have had no desire to work, watch TV, listen to my book, exercise, or do a host of things that I’ve put on my home ‘to do’ list.

But today is a new day. The sun is shining. I slept well, I’ve watered the new grass, I’m writing, I’m looking forward to my meditation. I know that my workout will be hard enough to remove the guilt of not working out yesterday. I’ll go for a walk, I’ll knock a couple items off of my to do list, and I have a conversation on Zoom tonight with my grads and their parents that I’m looking forward to.

Sometimes we just need to look up… in more ways than one.