IN PRAISE OF THE COMMON THURSDAY
Thursday, February 2, 2023
Today is a fun day, one for joking around about shadows, groundhogs and funny movies. This year it happens to be on a Thursday, but as a ‘day,’ Groundhog Day has no loyalty to any day of the week. Last year it was on a Wednesday; next year, it will be a Friday – and how it plays out will be different every year because our work lives, weekend lives, news cycles – everything fits into some rhythm or a cycle, and we have an inner need, I think, for consistency and reliability, things we can count on without fail.
Consider Thursday a shining example of consistency and reliability. At work or on vacation, as a child in school, or as a retiree without a fixed schedule, Thursday is the anchor, the rock we can count on every week. It’s not out there being a flashy Saturday or fresh-faced Monday.
If everyone started their thinking, projects, marketing launches and moonshot announcements on a Thursday, the world would be much better, period.
My point is that holidays, fun days, and ‘dated occasions’ can show up on any day of the week, and that’s fine – go ahead, but they are inconsistent, always disruptive, and they show up whenever they feel like it.
They have nothing on Thursday.
Days are like people, leaders and followers, hard workers and those who coast along on someone else’s coattails.
Thursday is a hard-working, reliable day of the week – it never misses, never fails, and can always be counted on to show up on time. Of all the worker-bee days of the week, Thursday is the best. And everyone should know that and show this day a little more respect. When the going gets tough – when work is hard, Thursday is always there, always shows up, never calls in sick, and never takes unauthorized time off.
Thursday is an incredibly exciting day.
It shows up every week, never misses and works hard for us all the time. It’s not hump day. That was yesterday, and we are SO over that, over the hump now – into the sweet spot of the work week.
Thursday is one of those workhorse days of the week in most offices, workplaces, homes and families. Nobody is just back from a weekend or leaving for one.
People rarely depart on vacations or return from them on a Thursday. So, everybody is on the job, a full house, all hands on deck. In my field of work, the most frequent gatherings apres-work or on Wednesdays and Thursdays …
Evening extra-curricular activities for adults and kids seem to fall in the Tues-Wed-Thurs grouping, so once again, Thursday gets extra work and obligations.
Thursday is a high-energy and enhanced productivity day; it never shirks, and never try to leave early – you can count on Thursday.
I often find weekly publishing projects that make Monday, Monday night, middle of the night, Tuesday morning leave me weary; with what capacity I have left, I make my way to the next day – to make those my high productivity/minimal rest days.
Wednesday is my return-of-equilibrium time and high energy, and I feel really strong, back to 100% on Thursdays!
Thursday shows up; count on it.
Your morning might start with a disconcerting email, strange phone call or headline that makes you gasp or laugh or shudder – nothing phases you because it’s Thursday. Stand taller in your loafers, fill your lungs with unpolluted fresh morning air and begin. You’ve got it. You have nothing to fear and everything you need for a successful day.
I’ve not done the research, but I’m certain babies born on Thursdays become better-looking adults, and fewer people die on Thursdays because who would want to miss one last magnificent day?
There will be doubters. Ignore them. Smart people know Thursday is magnificent; we don’t need to worry.
And I you are a doubter, come aboard the Thursday bandwagon; you might be wrong, but do you dare take a chance by second-guessing Thursday?
Smile, appreciate life and all the good things in it.
You’ve got a whole day of wonderful today – it’s Thursday.
And don’t worry, if you don’t get everything you want out of life today, or if stupid people steal valuable time from you today, there will be another Thursday here in seven days – like clockwork, they show up without fail. Count on it; Thursday has been with us for centuries.
Strong, an immovable rock between hump day and fish day, it’s a day that never fails us.
P.S.: the etymology of Thursday tells me this wonderful word came to our language before the 12th century, from the Old English thursdæg, and the Norse thōrsdagr; and Old Norse Thōrr – and we all know these words connect Thunder and Thursday – which seems so fitting