Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 27 °C, hot, sunny, and cloudy.
One of my faults, and there are many, is that on the eve of something, I begin to slow down and become prematurely lazy.
It is the eve of Easter Friday, a bank holiday in Brazil. In England, the bank holiday is on Monday, but in Brazil, it is on Friday. I have noticed for a long time now that, on the eve of a bank holiday or an event, I tend to slow down or even shut down.
I start to switch off in the early afternoon of the eve; it is gradual until the early evening, when I have prematurely finished, not wanting to do anything more.
If I have a class at either 6 or 7 p.m., I pray the pupil cancels it; if not, I cancel it, which is neither correct nor professional.
It is not professional and certainly not very disciplined as a teacher. Still, it can be very draining and stressful when we work with the public, especially in education. It is sometimes good to take a voluntary break, or even a premature time off, before the holiday.
Most pupils do not mind, as their minds are also not on studying on a Thursday night, on the eve of a bank holiday. They are more into winding down, travelling for the rest of the week to have a long weekend out of Rio, or just going out with friends, without worrying about oversleeping the next day because it is a bank holiday.
Just the fact of not having to get up early the next day is a luxury for some people, especially in Brazil.
Once, a very well-prepared pupil of mine shocked me a long time ago by saying, “In Brazil, most of the population works to survive, and only this!”
For some time now, I have understood what she said, and as Brazil seems to be getting worse rather than better, what she said in the past seems even more relevant today.
Although I usually feel lazy on the eve of a holiday, I managed to maintain my professionalism and discipline and worked until 6 p.m.
My last client, a leading lawyer in São Paulo and a bit of a workaholic, had scheduled an appointment with me at 6 p.m. However, he cancelled at the last minute, allowing me to relax and watch an old movie while drinking a glass of wine.
In bed by 9 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
