A hard week deserves a soft weekend. Rest isn’t a reward; it’s maintenance.

Rest framed as a reward has to be earned, which means it gets withheld at exactly the moment it is most needed. Maintenance is the better description. It is scheduled work on the equipment, and the equipment in this case is you. Nobody argues that a car has not deserved its service, and the week that was hard is the reason for the weekend rather than a qualification for it.

Protect part of this weekend before it fills up with other people’s plans. An afternoon with nothing in it is enough. The next hard week is coming and it will go better.