This phrase was made popular when the Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey asked that exact question. Most believe the point of her question was displaying the perspective of privilege — every day was the same, and the idea of work was uncommon to her. Working during the week was what those others who were less fortunate did. Spinoff memes have humorously asked the question from the other angle, such as: “‘What is a weekend?’ — asks anyone running a small business.”
If you’re honest with yourself, you have probably been tempted at times to wonder what it would be like to have a life of leisure, not to have to work, to be on perpetual vacation, so to speak. Even such a thought process belies our dualistic thinking about work. We tend to think of work as necessary, a must do, or something bad. On the other hand, we tend to think of a weekend or time off as good, time that you get to choose what you will do, a reward for our efforts.
The common dictionary definition of a “weekend” is the time between the close of one work week and the beginning of the next. For most people, that is Friday evening through Sunday evening, although certainly the work schedules of some require that their time off look very different.
Yet, the idea of a weekend is a relatively new concept. It began as an American term during the Industrial Revolution in the 1870s, taking root in British society in the 1890s. It became a fully accepted term in the 1940s, post-World War II. Laws began to be enacted around the work week at this time. However, many countries in the world still have a standard six-day work week.
Limiting the work week and having a true “weekend” has value. In our society’s drive for success and high achievement, Americans tend to struggle with this principle more than other cultures. The research on the optimal number of work hours per week indicates that after 50 hours per week, your productivity declines significantly.
Working more than 55 to 60 hours can lead to further declines in productivity in which the additional hours become futile. Working too much can be problematic and unhealthy for several reasons.
Health effects: Overworking has been consistently shown to have negative health consequences. These include problems like high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, a weakened immune system, weight gain, and sleep disturbance. Many of these are a result of the stress hormones activated with high work hours. Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety are also common in overworking.
Relational impact: All relationships require time. The more important ones such as marriage, family, and deep friendships require more time. Overworking often results in the neglect of these important relationships. Remember, other people can be patient with seasons of intense work for only so long. Chronic overworking will result in others feeling neglected and becoming frustrated.
A lack of personal growth: Being the best person you can be, including the best worker, requires time for personal reflection and efforts toward growth. If your job is getting the best of you, your time, your energy, and your strengths, it only makes sense you will have little time to grow personally.
Poor work/life balance: At the end of the day, overworking will not lead to the life you want. Work alone cannot fulfill our deepest needs. It may seem fine at first, but at some point, you are likely to wake up and have regrets for all your work took from you and over what you were not able to do in life.
These negative effects of overworking are easy enough to see, yet many people still find themselves overworking for several reasons.
One is having a work-based identity. How often do you introduce yourself by telling others what you do? “I am” is often followed by an occupation. We are human beings, not “human doings.” Work can become an easy substitute for an identity. The better that you understand who you are, the more fulfilling your work can be.
Others struggle to say “no” and set boundaries. This results in working more mainly because we are afraid to upset others. Often, the ability to set boundaries is rooted in having a secure identity. Along the same lines, many of us are not naturally organized or good at time management. This can result in being unproductive in the time you do work. Fortunately, these are skills that can be learned with some effort.
Lastly, work addiction really is a thing. Work — and the rewards from it — can activate the same reward pathways and chemicals in the brain that drugs do. You can actually become addicted to the good feelings of work. Work can also become a way to distract or escape from the difficulties of life.
In one sense, a weekend can be the antidote for the reasons people overwork and the negative health effects that follow. But that will not automatically be the case. A weekend will be what you make of it. Some of us work at our weekends like we work at our jobs. It can be tempting to fill those two days and go at them just as hard as we do work.
But being intentional to rest physically and to reflect mentally is necessary for recharging. It is also important to remember that cramming a weekend too full will often lead to stress and disorganization the following week.
It also provides time for hobbies and other activities. So many valuable and enjoyable pursuits are available in life. Having other interests and activities, which will also help you to be better at your work, is essential for a healthy work/life balance. Work and your outside life often feed each other.
It provides time to nurture relationships. Relationships are living things, just like the people they involve, and need to be fed and tended to. Frankly, relationships that are neglected or that get the bare minimum will eventually die.
We are not merely physical beings. A spiritual part to us also needs to be tended for us to be as healthy and well-rounded as possible. Perhaps this is why so many find value in their spiritual practices on the weekend. In fact, the idea of a weekend is rooted in the idea of Sabbath, which is a part of most religious traditions.
For many, thinking about work and a weekend is a dualistic thought process. Work is bad — or maybe a tolerable necessity — and the weekend is good, the thing we can enjoy. Such thinking implies that only certain aspects of life are valuable, good, or enjoyable. Again, we are all tempted to think that a life of leisure would be better than a life of working. Such thinking can lead you to miss out on so much. The reality is that all of us would tire of a life of leisure.
Value exists in everything we do, and something is always available to notice and appreciate. Are you living your life fully connected to yourself in all of your activities? Are you living fully connected to the world around you, to the people you encounter, to the wonder and beauty of the way things are? Are you living in gratitude? You can always find something to appreciate and with which to engage no matter what you are doing.
It is said that we should “stop and smell the roses.” But first, we have to notice the roses. Are you so busy or singularly focused that you are missing the roses? Do you have eyes to see the roses? Maybe this is an area in which you can challenge yourself.
So, “what is a weekend?” I suppose that is up to you. Do you have a weekend? Can you create one? Can you create a life where the weekend serves you, as opposed to you serving it?
