It's an ongoing cycle. We wait all week for Friday to come around, and while we blissfully bounce out of the office come 5pm, it can seem like we're right back in there at 9am on Monday morning without any time passing.
With weekends only being two days long, most of us have routines – especially on Sunday night. And we all know that's when the Fear of work drools on us like a leaking bathroom tap.
We prepare our schedules, prep our meals, change our nail colour, and dread going to sleep because that means it'll be Monday and we'll be right back into work again.
However a neuroscientist, David Eagleman, states that he has the secret to making our weekends longer, and while it seems like a great idea, we're sceptical of how it'll play out in real life.
According to the Standford professor, the key to making our weekends last longer is to "seek out newness."
He believes, "when you go and experience something novel, it seems to have lasted longer."
So in other words, go to a new restaurant, a new park, or travel to a county you've never been to before.
In his book, The Brain: The Story of You, he claims that when you look back on a childhood summer, it feels like it took a lot longer because you were constantly experiencing new things.
"But when you're older, you've sort of seen all the patterns before," the author says.
He recommends visiting a new place, trying out a new restaurant or reading a new book – and that's all well and good until reality sets in.
How many of us just want to chill and binge on our favourite TV show the minute the weekend rolls around? And how many of us enjoy going to the same pub, with the same friends every Saturday night?
And by the end of the month, most of us don't have the funds to afford to go on a weekend break, or try out a new restaurant.
While we would all love to live by his assessment, is it really achievable? Can we really make every weekend shorter?!
Of course, there's plenty of free activities to do around Ireland, so we suppose it's up to ones self to seek this "newness."
However, David admits that there is one caveat – it's only true in hindsight. “It’s exactly the opposite when you’re looking forward in time versus looking backwards," he says.
Which basically means come Monday it'll feel like you had a long action-packed weekend. BUT, while you're doing such things, as the saying goes; time flies when you're having fun.
So… it's looking like we'll never make those weekends seem longer.
