Monday Morning Blues & 5 Ways To Beat Them

 

Everyone experiences Monday Morning Blues: the feeling that the weekend is over and a whole week of work looms prominently between them and the next weekend is quite familiar to most people. What is the reason for these Monday morning lows? Are they the natural counterparts of weekend highs? Let’s try to find out.

 

Change in momentum: The human mind/body is a creature of habit. You become comfortably set in a groove, getting dressed, putting in a day at work, all the while maintaining routines of household and family responsibilities.

Over the weekend, to reward yourself you change this routine. You may sleep in, have meals at different times, and generally jog that conservative old biddy, your body, out of its week long work day rut.

You might enjoy weekend revelries but your body does not take kindly to the change in its settings. It takes it some time to process the change. This is one reason for your less than perfect state of being on Monday morning.

Weekend over commitment is a major cause of Monday morning exhaustion. A working mother who is also a post grad student and only has Sundays off once told me her routine. She manages to socialize, help her kids with their home work, catch up on household chores, shop for next weeks’ groceries as well as cope with her own assignments all in the space of twenty four hours.

It is hardly surprising that on Monday morning she is so exhausted that dropping the kids at school and getting her carcass to work is a major achievement. But she plans her schedule accordingly, not taking on too much for Monday, and when given the option, keeping her most arduous tasks for the middle of the week.

In her case her Monday slump can easily be rectified by taking some of the pressure off Sunday. She can try scheduling some of her Sunday chores over therest of the week and generally slowing down her pace before she faces inevitable burnout.

Weekend Revelry- Some peope are paid on a weekly basis. Receiving their paycheck on Friday, they spend like there is no tomorrow.

This phenomenon is quite common among industrial workers in the West. Finding themselves flush with cash, they spend a lot of time in bars and pubs. Small wonder then that the excesses of the weekend leave them physically and financially drained on Monday morning.

Here are a few tips that you can practice to avoid Monday morning blues:

1. Change your mindset

This is perhaps the easiest or the most difficult of these tips– depending on how you look at things. Why does the weekend seem like a fun time? To some extent because you are off work but more so because you are pre-conditioned to perceive it as a time of recreation and relaxation.

 

By the same corollary when you picture the week stretching ahead on Monday morning, you are bound to feel overwhelmed and stressed out. It is all a question of perception. If you consider Monday as just another ordinary day, the change in your mindset will change your attitude towards Monday and you won’t feel so bad.

 

2. Change your schedule

If you have crammed too many difficult tasks in the beginning of the week, you are bound to suffer from Monday morning blues. Spacing difficult or important projects/meetings evenly over the whole week can take care of this. This simple re-scheduling will take the pressure off Monday, I promise.

 

3. Redefine your Sunday

Earlier I mentioned a young lady who packed too much living into her Sunday and was consequently phased out on Monday morning. To preventthis from happening you should re-define and re-structure your Sunday.

    

If you keep your Sunday evening free to just relax or prepare for the week ahead, trust me, you will feel much more active on Monday. Forty five minutes or an hour spent on preparing for the week ahead can save time and agro over the whole week. Meal prep for the week ahead as well as coordination of outfits is a good idea.

A Sunday evening work out, a jog in the park or a walk around the block can help. Physical activity releases endorphins (feel good chemicals) in your body that keep the blues at bay.

 

4. New week – new inspiration

Monday morning blues are just a state of mind. Instead of being grouchy and grumpy, treat Monday as a new page in the book of life. Better still, picture it as the first day of the rest of your life.

After re-charging your batteries over the weekend, you can tackle the new week with a fresh new approach. A fresh approach can help you tackle old problems better.Plan a new strategy, take on a new challenge.

 

5. Monday evening and Mid-week fun.

It is a good idea to plan something fun for Monday evening. You could schedule a short outing or a meet up with a friend. Or if your Monday is too packed for this, a small treat like a pizza delivered to your doorstep, or a gossip session on the phone can alleviate Monday morning blues.

Plan something nice for Tuesday or Wednesday too. Reverse engineering your week is a good idea. Although you can’t do your office work on the weekend, you can do some household chores on Saturday or Sunday. This can make time for a fun activity mid week.

 

Bonus Tip

Make someone else’s Monday brighter : this is the best of all. Bringing a smile on someone’s face is the best kind of mood elevator for yourself. Here are some ideas:

• A pencil with a cartoon character on it for your child.
• A special tea time snack for your co-workers.
• Flowers for your spouse
• A surprise visit or phone call to an elderly relative.

What are your tips to banish Monday morning blues?

How do you make the transition from weekend revelry to workday routine?

Why don’t you share your favourite hacks and leave a reply in the comments section below?

Let’s hope you and I can change Monday morning blues to Monday morning motivation today.

 

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