Apologies for posting late. This morning, Musing ritual, when this column usually hits reader mailboxes about this time or earlier in the morning, but today has a mind of its own, and I could not keep up, so - sorry I’m late …
Friday night arrives carrying two things:
exhaustion and relief.
Some weeks, it feels like a photo finish just to get here.
Work doesn’t really stop; it just changes shape. We’re tired, but we’re still standing, and tomorrow will sort out what today couldn’t.
My Friday started early, racing across the city for an 8 a.m. meeting. Three hours gone before I even looked at my own desk. The day didn’t ease up from there.
Hot weather, a busy schedule, and that sense of “just one more thing” carried me into the evening. By the time I sat down to write, the week had already claimed most of my energy. What was left went into thumping these keys.
It wasn’t a bad day. In fact, it was good; productive, useful, full of conversations worth having. But it was also tiring. The kind of day that leaves you grateful for air-conditioning and a meal at hand, even if the to-do list remains longer than the hours.
That’s the balance of days like this: satisfaction wrapped in fatigue. We don’t get everything done. We don’t tie every bow. Yet we end up with enough progress to call it a win.
I’ll still stream something tonight, still scroll the news, still let myself be distracted. Tomorrow will be clean-up day, catching what spilled over from the week.
And maybe that’s the point. Productivity isn’t perfect. It’s messy, interrupted, and sometimes delayed. A good Friday reminds us that fatigue is proof that we spent our energy on things that mattered. And if the week beat us up a little, well, we’re still standing to tell the tale.
Fatigue and satisfaction often arrive together—Friday teaches us they’re not enemies, they’re twins. Even exhaustion is a kind of victory lap.
Basic Musings+ subscription is free; paid subscribers get bonus (+) content
- Archived SHORT STORIES + latest posting: Shadows on the Prairie
- Archived POETRY + latest postings … LEAD THE WAY and BAR SET HIGH, VERY HIGH
- Satisfaction tab: Here Comes Tomorrow
Other publications on my Substack:
Monday Morning Minute (32,400+) /// subscription is free; paid subscribers get bonus content
FACILITYCalgary (25,000) /// subscription is free, advertising/sponsorship
Returning this week:
REITrag
Thank you for reading Musings on Substack - the place where I publish this Musings column daily, and also post added content regularly, such as poems, short stories, and other editorial content - the ‘plus/+’ or bonus content available to ‘paid subscribers’
Fatigue wrapped in satisfaction: my sentiments exactly for every day this week!