I get it. Nobody likes Mondays (or whatever day your week begins). Nobody likes waking up early after taking a much needed break from the alarm clock. Nobody likes getting up and going somewhere under the pressures of obligation and responsibility, especially if you don’t particularly like your job.
Bear with me here. I’m going to risk you rolling your eyes at me.
I have grown to really dislike the “Monday blues” attitude. It’s such a cliche, this way of viewing Monday. I dislike sour attitudes in general because they cloud my world and bring me down. There’s enough external junk beyond our control that we have to deal with on the daily, so if there’s one thing I strive to control in my life it’s my attitude—my way of absorbing the world around me. My way of viewing myself in the world.
The way we approach every day really is a matter of choice.
I wasn’t always this person who strove to be happy. I was the opposite. I lived under a veil of pessimism and unhappiness for a long time, but ironically, those years inspired me to find a renewed sense of joy and optimism in my life. I realized nothing was going to change for me if I didn’t change for me.
That said, I used to be on the “I hate Monday” band wagon too… until I realized that it’s actually pretty silly to hate a day, and it’s actually pretty awesome waking up because you have something to do.
Mondays represent having to go back to work, sure, but they also represent a new beginning, a new week, a new day of being alive. You woke up today, on this day you dread called Monday, but you woke up. Waking up to a new day, Monday or not, is something to be glad about, I think. No?
At least you didn’t wake up as a giant bug? (Kafka, anyone?)
“In your mind, change the name of every day to Saturday… change the name of work to play.” Matt Haig from The Humans
What is it with Mondays?
I’m stubborn and I hate cliches, so I’ve rebelled against this anti-Monday attitude. I don’t want to be another “I hate Monday” zombie who’s only saving grace is a shot of caffeine and the fact that the day will eventually end. And I feel genuinely better now that I’ve changed the way I view and anticipate Mondays.
Yes, I’m that happy person at work on Mondays, but I’m also that happy person (I try my best!) any day of the week. Why? Because I want to be happy no matter what day it is. Because the opposite of happiness sucks, quite frankly. And because happiness is a good kind of contagious. People who are sour will be sour regardless, so people who strive to be happy should strive to be happy regardless.
Changing your attitude about Monday is not about changing your attitude about your job necessarily. (External circumstance rarely brings internal happiness; we will always be wanting of something—it’s our inherent flaw as human beings to believe we’ll be happier if or when _________). (So if you can’t be happy Now with what you have then you won’t be happy ever.)
Changing your attitude about Monday, rather, is about seeing Monday as simply a new day, as opposed to a day of going back to the reality of work. It’s about seeing Monday as a new beginning, as opposed to the end of the weekend. It’s about seeing Monday as a day you get stuff done, as opposed to a day you have to do stuff.
Wake up, people! You are alive. You lived to see another day. Who cares if it’s called Monday (or whatever day your week begins)? Let’s see and treat Monday for what it really is—another day of life, the refresh button for a new week. Monday is like New Years Day once a week! (Is this too much? Maybe…)
Bottom line—begin your day blah, and you will be blah; begin your day grateful, and you will be grateful. So choose your frame of mind for every day—and watch your world change, or not change.
Thanks for bearing with me.
Happy Monday, world.
Mad Girl Writing 