Ah, Monday. Oh dear, Monday. The poor misunderstood thing. So many people believe that they can’t trust that day.
What if — just imagining here — What if we thought of Monday in the same way we think of New Year’s Day? Instead of beginning a new 365-day cycle with celebrations and resolutions and new beginnings, what if we whittled the cycle down to seven days?
That way we only have to keep those daunting resolutions for six days, and then we go out and celebrate New Week’s Eve, and then we have our New Week’s Day holiday before settling back into the routine on Monday.
Monday becomes the second day in January, only every week. Mind you, I’m just talking about mindset here, not the weather — it will probably be easier to drum up enthusiasm of this sort on Monday, June 12, for example.
Think of it: Every week, new resolve, new goals, new beginnings, new opportunities, all the fun of the new year, without the dread of long-term commitments and fear of failure. “Go to the gym three times a week” is a much more manageable goal than “Go to the gym 1,095 times between now and Dec. 31.” Even I might be able to do three, and next Monday is another new beginning.
I think I’m onto something here. It’s nothing new. It’s even a semi-cliche: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” Every Monday becomes a new opportunity to reset and start over, just like New Year’s Day.
Last week I read a story about how someone determined that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year — something about New Year’s resolutions fizzling out, the holiday season becoming a distant memory, and two more months of winter to stare down.
But if we approach the new week in the same frame of mind as we do the new year — hope, optimism and all those other senses we sense on Jan. 2 — it might change almost everything. What do you think?