It’s the dreaded Monday morning. You hear the atrocious sound of your alarm, and stumble to turn it off. “Just gotta make it to Friday,” you mumble to yourself. You mentally take yourself through the tasks of school, work, and homework, all with the intention of simply making it to the weekend. 

A survival mindset of simply “surviving,” one is destroying the opportunity of living the week to the fullest. Instead, they simply suffer through it. This has detrimental effects on one’s week and attitude, as they feel they have a burden on their shoulders constantly. 

A Stanford study titled “Rethinking Stress” indicates that a person’s mindset significantly affects the amount of stress they experience. As individuals develop a “survival mindset,” their feelings of anxiety and exhaustion increase, furthering their burnout. The World Health Organization, burnout is a phenomenon in which chronic workplace stress builds up due to mismanagement and leads to severe exhaustion. However, those with a mindset of using the workplace as an opportunity to learn and grow show to have less stress and a better well-being. 

A video titled “This Is How Terribly Short Your Life Is (If You Hate Your Job & Live For The Weekends” brings up the idea that a person with the mindset of living for the weekends would only be able to live to the fullest for about 11 years. This means, only 11 years were truly “lived” and enjoyed.

When living for the weekend, a 60 year lifespan becomes 11 years of “enjoyable living.” This applies to students who constantly wait for their days off, giving up a large portion of their high school experience and opportunities. Additionally, this calculation does not include external factors such as if the weekend was actually enjoyable. 

To combat this mindset, it is important to do the things that you truly enjoy. Whether that means eating a meal with family, or watching your favorite show—–it’s all about doing the small things that make you happy each day.  By Incorporating these feelings of happiness and elation each day, you can eliminate the crushing feeling of only being able to enjoy life on certain days. Through consciously choosing to be living in the moment and feeling bits of joy consistently, you break free of the decaying mindset of waiting. 

Additionally, curiosity is the key to new and memorable experiences. By constantly partaking in the same routine, your life becomes monotonous and predictable. Through seeking new learning opportunities and trying new things, such as going to a place you’ve never been before, you can introduce brand new things into your life—-something you will remember later on.

Living for Fridays creates a feeling of dread and anxiety before each week even starts. The constant feeling of waiting destroys the purpose of experience, and new opportunities. Ultimately, waiting for something constantly deteriorates one’s health and their sense of purpose in their life. It is crucial to always do something one enjoys, while seeking curiosity in order to break free of a dreadful mindset.