Friday Energy: The Strength You Build One Present Moment at a Time
Finding Friday energy is a struggle. I look back and see that the weight of the previous week’s activities have piled up. Taking time to reflect, I notice that some are resolved, others are not, and even more work remains ahead of me.
So when the pursuit of energy and joy feels like an act of resistance, I return to my routine: three things I am thankful for, redirecting my thoughts to what is in front of me. For example, in the bathroom while brushing my teeth, I notice the sound of my toothbrush on my tongue. I take time to listen to this instead of running scenarios for the day. Slowly, clarity and energy arrive.
This is a simple practice of mindfulness—observing what is in front of me in the current moment. I’ve come to the conclusion that if I focus on what is occurring at 5:34am instead of what may happen at 8:00, or what I should be doing at 10:00, or have done by 3:00, I am slowly building the strength needed to respond to whatever the day brings. On the surface, the hope is the practice will ensure that difficult situations will not arise. The truth is the practice prepares me to respond.
As I sit down to finish this, it’s 7:38pm and I am sitting in a boba shop having an iced coffee after dropping my son off at a teen church event. The day was filled with planned activities and several unexpected crisis events. Even though I wished for a dull day with nothing occurring, I can find joy not just in the day ending and the weekend beginning, but in the fact that I showed up and contributed when it was hard and I was tired. That morning practice of noticing my toothbrush, of anchoring myself at 5:34am—it didn’t prevent the crises, but it built the reservoir I drew from all day. The mindfulness I cultivated in those quiet moments became the steadiness I needed when the unexpected arrived. And that’s where your Friday energy comes from: what we do, the actual work, can be energizing if we allow it to be.
What small moment will you notice this weekend?
