How many times have you said the following in your lifetime: "T.G.I.F.!" Or, "Thank God It's Friday!"
I say it.
You say it.
We ALL say it, right?
When you think about it, though, what does that phrase get across, to you?
When I think about it, this phrase goes beyond a meaningless conversational cue meant to make random interactions at the coffee pot go more smoothly.
To me, this phrase indicates that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday only serve the purpose of being days I look forward to Friday and the weekend. Monday through Thursday are days to be gotten through, not days to be enjoyed and cherished.
Additionally, have you ever spent your Sunday dreading Monday? I know I've been there at times, and I have known many people who have this unfortunate attitude.
And then you go back to work on Monday and ask someone how they are, and they say "Well, pretty good, for a Monday."
Why on earth are we wasting our time, our breath, and our energy on this?
Remember when we talked about how words have power? This is one of those situations. WE ARE WISHING OUR LIVES AWAY. We are wishing for Friday to come faster so it can be the weekend. We are wishing Monday wouldn't come and wasting our Sunday worrying about it. By speaking this out loud, we may be living in a technical sense, but not really living in a spiritual sense. In a fulfillment sense. In a grateful sense. We are just going through the motions.
God, how boring!
I know some people would say that I'm taking this too seriously, that it's just a phrase, or a light conversational cue, and I take your point, BUT, hear me out.
Last night was a rough one. I found out the shocking news that a friend had suddenly died. I had a fitful night, waking up several times, crying a little, wishing it had been different. But when I woke up this morning, this thought was in my head, and I really don't even know how it got there, but there it was:
"What if T.G.I.F. could be turned into something else?
What if we rebranded T.G.I.F.?"
How about: T.G.I.T. = Thank God It's TODAY?
Every day, I wake up, and I thank God for waking me up, for giving me another "today." So why would I spend all week looking forward to Friday, and then say "T.G.I.F." on Friday as if I couldn't wait for the week to end??? It doesn't make sense!
I'm going to implement this in my speech patterns. I'm going to re-train my brain on this. I plan on enjoying every Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, AND Saturday. No constraints. No wishing my life away. From now now on, every day is T.G.I.T.
Look, guys, I know, at the end of the day, it's just something you say, and it shouldn't be a big deal, but I challenge you to use this post to think about what ways you are potentially wishing your lives away instead of living in the moment. I know I've identified one of mine.
Try it out and let me know how it goes for you! Do you enjoy life in the moment instead of worrying about what day of the week it is? Or do you have a verbal or mental tic that is subtly telling you to go through the motions instead of savoring each moment?
Comment below if you have any thoughts on this.
(With special thanks to some folks who helped me get my
head straight on this one. W.L. and L.D., you rock!)
positively b.e.e. is on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest! Follow me there!
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