Depending on our daily routine and of jobs, different weekdays can have an attached meaning and feeling to it. Mondays will always starts slow, Wednesdays are almost there, Fridays – you can feel the happiness in the air, Sundays you rest.
But…
What happens when you work Monday to Monday?
Life changes,
You’re exhausted,
You’ve never been so free.
I work Monday to Monday. Depending on the season I can start waking up as early as 430am or as late as 530 (yay winter!) and going to bed either at 830pm (this is a true life goal for many guides) or after 10pm – typical boma night.
Since we’re little, we learn to go by the calendar and respect the gods of the Days, but in my daily routine, weekdays have no meaning. It’s a strange feeling. I know it’s Monday because there’s a town trip, I know it’s Friday because we might have a party, I know it’s Sunday because the world has gone quiet, I normally miss Tuesdays.
In a normal life you eagerly await for the weekend to feel free, and feel defeated on Sunday evening because “well, gotta go back to work tomorrow”. Here… well things are a little different. The lifestyle is more a “carpe diem” style. Any day of the week is a good day to go out, to celebrate, to have a special occasion until very late (which is 11pm thanks to our curfew). Excuses like “I have to work tomorrow” are never uttered and never respected. The only thing that commands complete absolution is “I ran out of money”, or “I’ve had a long cycle”. Because all great gifts come with a price, we get tired, we work hard and we look forward to those precious days of leave. The first few days of leave are indeed spent recovering, sleeping, regaining the lost optimism (which probably left us by week 5 of a work cycle).
It’s a tough life, it’s a fun life. To me, it’s been a life lived more because it’s taught me not wait for the weekend to go out, not to wait for 5pm to laugh, to have fun, it’s taught me to enjoy the chaos of times, but it’s taught me to appreciate the silent times. It’s a challenging way of enjoying the present and feeling utterly free. It has been one of the greatest gifts I have ever received and one to work really hard for.
If I can wish something for everyone today, is that you find a life that sets you free and makes you happy for the most part, even when you’re at your worse. Then you know you’re truly alive, and that’s all that really matters.