Why Mondays Hurtfeatured

It happens every Monday without fail. You are sluggish. You are fragile. You can hardly function without a stronger-than-normal cup of Joe. All conversations lead to, “Ohhh well it’s Monday, you know?” On Tuesday, it becomes “just Tuesday” and on Wednesday you might get a second wind to survive the next two days if you are lucky.

But what is it about those damn Mondays?

They seem like the least favorite day of the week. No matter what you try to do, someone has to remind you that it is that dreaded day and that their weekend was just a teeny bit better than yours, or at least better than today – this specific Monday.

I wish I could dress up like Monday for Halloween. The only problem is I don’t know what it would look like. An exhausted mom? A hungover college kid? A person coming down from a sugar high? A person with feet detached from their body and literally dragging behind them?

I don’t really know what Mondays look like to you but I am going to assume Mondays are associated with anxiety, depression, anguish, and lethargy because of the uncertainty ahead. Because the weekend was filled with all the things you love to do and work week will include just that-work, routine… little deviation from your scheduled routine.

It doesn’t help that there are no fun things coined by pop culture to be scheduled on Mondays. Tuesdays are for tacos, Sundays are for Fundays, Thursdays are Thirsty, Wednesdays are Humpdays, and Saturdays are the preferred wildcards.

For me, Mondays mean no more quality time with my loved ones. They mean go hard at the gym, drink lots of coffee and eat as healthy as possible. Mondays get me back on track but also take all of my fun away from me.

I would like to say I am just as disciplined on the weekends than I am on Mondays but that is simply not the case. Weekends are for binging random TV shows and taking naps with my cats whenever I feel like it. They are for cuddling all morning and dancing around while making pancakes. They are for getting massages and getting my nails done. It’s so hard to even write about this on a Sunday. I am mourning my weekend already.

Mondays mean meetings and catching up on emails that need follow up from last week. Mondays might be rough for me because I put too much pressure on myself during the workweek.

Mondays are not as bad when I have a week of fun events and new projects ahead. When I have things to look forward to beyond the routine.

We don’t have to only fuel our souls on the weekends. We can do it every single day. While routine can be comforting and predictable, it can often fuel severe cases of the Mondays. Every.single.Monday.

Mondays might not be to blame at all. We might be.

So take up a new hobby, read a new book genre, do a different type of yoga, go to dinner with a friend on a Wednesday, buy a new pair of shoes on a Monday, write your partner a love note on a Tuesday morning, dance in the kitchen on a Thursday night. Make life beautiful every day, including Mondays.

Don’t take a single breath for granted, even those taken on Mondays, because enough missed moments can add up to emptiness and angst every day of the week and that can even slip into the weekend if you are not careful.

Grant yourself grace on Mondays. Show yourself as much self-love on this day as you did during the weekend. I have to actively abide by this advice in order to combat the case of the Mondays so often inflicted on me by our culture and my corporate surroundings.

I will start tomorrow.

Let’s see how much I can transform my Mondays by simply transforming my mentality.

Love Deeply and Forever,

Karen