Every Weekend Should be a Three-Day Weekend
Seriously. I do so enjoy my weekends. I look forward to each upcoming weekend with great anticipation. But two-day weekends just don't do it for me anymore. They feel incomplete.

I get so excited when I have a three-day weekend on the horizon. I love time to myself, time away from work, time to do with as I please. I get to be the boss of me for three whole days. I expect very little of myself in general, so three-day weekends give me a nice block of time to do as little as is required to achieve my low expectations, and still feel like I've accomplished something.

The beauty of the three-day weekend is that there is a day for each of the three main components of a weekend: play, relax, prepare. With only two days on a normal weekend, these important components are either crammed together, or at least one component must unfortunately be left out for time's sake. They each deserve their own special attention, since the three components work hand in hand to form a successful weekend. This is why a three-day weekend is ideal for proper transition from week to week. Without each of these vital aspects to end one week and begin another, it is difficult to be at one's best in between weekends.

Within a three-day weekend there is ample time to play, which is the first important component to any weekend. This is time to be with people, hang out, party, get out of the house, shop, catch up on phone calls, etc. We are excited that the weekend is finally here, so we must celebrate with others, engaging in activities, having much fun. An ideal time for this is during the first part of the weekend. Beginning on a high will allow you to rest easier as the weekend progresses. Also included in 'play' can be less fun activities that fall into the 'get out of the house' sub-category, such as running errands or working out. The goal with 'play' is to get all of the busy stuff out of the way, in order to make way for component #2: relax.

This next relaxation phase of a weekend is possibly the most important part of the entire weekend. It involves doing a lot of absolutely nothing. Often while in pj's. This can include laying on the couch, reading, watching movies, watching bad weekend television, and sleeping. It is important that physical activity and intelligent conversation is at an absolute minimum during this time. The brain must recover from strenuous activity, which leads to the final stage of the weekend: prepare.

The 'prepare' stage of the weekend is designed to mentally and physically prepare for another long week at your job, often a place that you hate or dislike. It is very tough to make it through four to five days in a row of working long hours doing whatever it is you do that pays your bills. Often, the thought of returning to work after a wonderfully fun and relaxing weekend brings deep feelings of anxiety, dread, and even fright, sorrow, or desperation. It is therefore important to set aside time to deal with these feelings, preparing yourself for the week ahead. This stage can often be an extension of the 'relax' phase, in which you would continue to keep activities to a minimum, while also distracting yourself with small tasks or superfluous activities. This is a good time for things like ironing, or light cleaning. Activities that are not fun, but that also do not require much thinking or strategy, and which can also help ease your upcoming week at work. The goal of this stage is to be able to get up the next morning and make it to work, hopefully carrying through the rest of the work week until another weekend is here to rescue you from the doom of your job.

Now, as you can see, this is a lot to do in one weekend, even having three days. But each component is vital to the purpose of the weekend. When we skimp on any one component, the others suffer, and therefore render a weekend almost completely useless. Without a useful weekend, speaking for myself, I am absolutely no good throughout the rest of the week, at the place where I am all day: work. If I am expected to perform well in my job, I must be given ample time to recuperate from week to week. Ample and reasonable time for me, as I've proven here, is at minumum, three days.

Logically and practically speaking, even with a three-day weekend, we are still working four days out of the week. That is still a majority of time out of the week, devoted to a place where we are required to be, serving someone other than ourselves. And really, by Thursday or Friday, are any of us actually working? I don't think so. We are burnt out by Wednesday, and the rest of the week we are only there because we have to be present to earn our paycheck. Weekends are truly the most important cog in the great machine of the workforce. To keep us running, to keep things going, to help us be effective in what we do, we must be given the weekends we deserve.

Every weekend should be a three-day weekend. It only makes sense, and definitely, absolutely, scientifically would increase worldwide productivity.

I rest my case.

C.T.