The weekend is here again, a time for relaxation for most. Of course, many Americans out there aren't limited to Saturday and Sunday as their weekend choices, but with it being the start of a period of rest for many, we thought it was a good idea to drop a little reminder for you all right here.
Why We Have the Weekend
While the term "weekend", being used to describe the two days of the week where one can focus on rest, socialization and their personal life is a relatively modern construct with a debatable history. If you go to research the topic, you will find all sorts of reasons with a couple top stories that people like to tell over and over again.
For example, some will say that the weekend began with the labor movement, other stories say that the weekend can be explained as an adapted need by Jewish workers. While the traditional, American, use for the term was established in the early 1900s, the 5-day workweek was a requirement by the labor movement and a neccesity for religious people who also are mandated to spend some of their time with their community, in their church or doing religious practices. It isn't only Jewish workers that require the time for Sabbath!
Another popular story told about the history of the weekend is that Henry Ford was another contributor, if not the originator of the weekend as Americans know it today. He was reported to have shut his factories down on Saturday and Sunday because it allowed everyone employed by the factory to take time off of work. It is important to note that there was a drop in damages to parts as well as personal injury once the plant was closed for a couple of days each week.
There are other stories that are told, defining how the weekend has come to unfold. The truth is, it wasn't always that way. Once upon a time, workers would complete tasks during the daylight hours. They would have from sun up to sun down to have the appropriate amount of light to do their tasks. Work was done at a more organic pace and the world seemed to move a bit more slowly. People were still just as busy though. They had jobs to take care of their families, children either had work or chores around the house. Of course, without modern conveniences, farms being more common and money being an issue many kids also had adult-like responsibilities as well.
If you go back in time, you will find there is actually a much longer established history to the concept of separating times of rest and times of liesure. Don't believe us, what if you saw a YouTube video to spell it out in a colorful and quick fashion?
What is the Weekend For
Today, we say that the weekend is for play! Weekend warriors live for the summer and spring when they can get their work in from Monday to Friday and then cry out, "Game on!" as they forge forth towards their weekend adventures. Even if you are not a work hard, play hard time, chances are that you stil enjoy time off from your job.
Statistics show that there are plenty of benefits to weekend activities including reduced stress, happier moods and the balance of work and life. Furthermore, the weekend has benefits when it is 3 days instead of 2. No shock there!
People need time from their job, from the daily stress of work and sometimes even social responsibilities. For the last century the weekend has been prized as a time to see people you want to see or to do whatever recharges you. More recently, we are noticing a trend of productivty types wanting to have people make use of their valuable weekend time in order to make the other five days more friendly and functional.
Posters like this one, touting ways to keep you busy on your selected two days away, in order to create a more streamlined workweek help to devalue the weekend. Studies suggest that it is better to take the weekend for you and to leave any needed planning for the rest of the time to Sunday evening if you have to. If you can make food for the week then, great. It is important that you don't waste the downtime though. You want to keep your weekends calm and centered around things that will make you feel better.
Making the Most of Your Weekend!
The easiest way to enjoy your weekend is to simply do things that you enjoy doing. Many of us have a list for ourselves that we use. It may not be written down, but we have these routine habits that we do each week. These are tasks that certainly must be done, but that doesn't mean that they all have to be done before you can enjoy your time. They also don't have to be done all of the time.
In order to maximize weekends, consider lessening the plan of what you feel that you need to accomplish and every now and then completely blow all of your alleged responsibilities out the window. Throw out your plans and cast caution to the wind, creating only tasks that you enjoy doing. Of course, we realize that you can't do this all of the time but it is definitely worth the effort! Aim to delegate tasks that bring you down if you can anbd spread out the work so that it doesn't just seem like you are wasting your time and getting behind before the weekend even started!
Thanks for Reading!
This was a simple curiosity for us here in the office and we decided that there are plenty of people out there that are just as curious about this weekend thing as us and so... we made your search simple!
If you have any additional weekend facts that you would like to share or verify, LEAVE A COMMENT below!
References: (a list of articles used to help gain and ortanize information for this article)
Read from these links to find out more fun history about weekends!
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/08/where-the-five-day-workweek-came-from/378870/
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2015/sep/13/argument-four-day-school-week
http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/workday/weekend/8hourday.html