Sep 6th, 2025 Saturday Cloudy
“When is the happiest time of the week for you?”
If you ask this question to thousands of people, you might get a variety of answers, though some studies have found the consensus to be early Saturday evening, a time that most spend on hanging out with friends/family or partying.
My response would likely depend on the definition of happiness. If we are going for high arousal excitement, I can see Friday or Saturday night stand out. Like most people, I tend to reserve those times for socializing and having fun. However, if we are going for a feeling of bliss, fulfillment, with the realization “life is good”, I would pick Friday afternoon, right before I wrap up for the week.
Wait, that means I technically should still be in the office at that moment?
Yes, exactly.
It is truth universally (for the most part) known that employee productivity is fairly low, if not the lowest, around three or four p.m. on a Friday. As a result, reasonable workplaces do not expect anything major to get done, and managers generally avoid scheduling meetings during that period (otherwise low attendance and/or ill humor is a natural consequence). In addition, I have the habit of pushing everything forward if possible, so my planned tasks for the whole week tend to be finished by Thursday (sometimes earlier in the week). Just like in school days, students who kept up with their studying and assignments throughout the semester were enviably relaxed during the last couple of weeks, watching all others stressing out, especially if their classes did not have a final exam.
But in the adult world, last-minute emergencies can happen, right? What if an urgent email comes at five o’clock?
With the exception of certain professions and positions, that email CAN WAIT.
I believe this Friday afternoon elation is partly rooted in the awareness that you have achieved a lot for the week, and now you deserve a good break. Besides, there are two full days ahead of you, with pastime that you have been looking forward to on the schedule, and you do not need to face the job of the next week yet (two days is a good mental distance). Anticipating all the enjoyment is enough to energize me.
In fact, I wonder whether the anticipation of pleasure could be more pleasant that experiencing it in the moment, because I have the freedom to let my imagination run wild, without any limit. I could dream up several different ways that a lively conversation might turn, or a few funny game scenarios that make everyone laugh. Yet in reality, at most, only ONE of the “what-ifs” would occur, so the real fun might be just a proportion of what I envisioned beforehand. Even worse, there are times that disappointment strikes, and what I had waited for so long turned out to be a big letdown. I know for sure that I felt less satisfied in those situations than when I was expecting them.
So on a quiet Friday afternoon, I sat next to a sweet napping Sesame, taking in the aroma of baked treats (to be shared with guests next day) while looking out to the blue sky outside, and smiled.