The Friday Before the Long Weekend

Friday. And Labor Day weekend starts the moment you close the laptop today — three days of unofficial summer finale stretched out in front of you.

The Friday before a long weekend has a particular quality: everyone’s half-gone by two o’clock, mentally if not physically. I say lean into it, within reason. Finish the one thing that genuinely can’t wait. Write the note to Tuesday-you — not Monday-you, and isn’t that a nice sentence — about where everything stands. Then draw the line and step across it.

Three days is enough time to actually unwind, which two days rarely is. The first day you’re still shedding the week. The second day you settle. The third day — that’s the gift. That’s when rest actually reaches the bottom of the tank.

Don’t spend it all on errands. Save some of it for nothing at all.

Three days is enough to actually unwind. Don’t spend it all on errands — save some for nothing at all.

What’s your plan for the do-nothing portion of the long weekend?