Blue Monday has me seeing Red

So last Friday it snowed and we spent the weekend playing in the snow and borrowed a sled from a kind neighbour so my boy and Hubbie could ride downhill in the powdery stuff. Then it was Monday and our car was so deeply buried (and we live on a steep hill which meant I wasn't going to drive to nursery) that we took two buses to drop my son off then I took two buses back then the same again to pick him up in the afternoon. It wasn't so bad and pushing a buggy uphill in deep snow is pretty hard work for the buttocks, so I feel quite virtuous.

Pretty much everyone else I've spoken to has felt that last Monday was hideous and dreadful and depressing. Then I was reminded that it was officially the "most depressing day of the year," you know the one:

• the day people give up their NY resolutions - especially the not drinking one ! 
• the day gyms see a drop off in new members who've paid up front for the year 
• the day we give up the diet as it's just too difficult and we want to curl up with a cuppa and some biscuits to keep warm
• the day we realise that being paid early for Christmas wasn't so great now we still have another ten days before the next payday 

I have mentioned Blue Monday in a previous post. It's the day that we supposedly feel that sinking post Christmas dread and fall off the wagon of resolutions rashly made in December. Well if you felt a bit crappy this week or were unexpectedly down in the mouth on Monday that's probably why.

Only it's not really. Blue Monday was a PR creation years ago to sell holidays to people in their January gloom. You know how Christmas adverts start in November and then the commercials to entice you to the sales are on just before Christmas then traditionally on Boxing Day we see beautiful beaches, elegant cruises and glamorous aircrews ? Well this whole 'Blue Monday' myth (complete with the 'scientific study' claim that has no basis in reality) is a deliberate effort to get you to book your holidays. It isn't real people so don't buy into it.

I say let's reclaim it and make Blue Monday famous only for being a song by New Order. Let's make it about something else. So if you've been feeling a bit down this week here are some suggestions of things to shake off the blues:

• change your resolutions to doable ones - like I'll bring the wheelie bin inside the same day it gets emptied
• take up something new - not a life changing thing necessarily, maybe start small eg. different bread  
• let go of our wishing away last year and embrace this one instead - it's only January, don't be so hard on yourself 
• put all the festive paraphernalia away - accept that all the leftover Christmas food has to go, yes even the peanuts, pretzels, etc.

Oh and pop on New Order's Blue Monday (the 12") just to remind yourself that it's a song and not a marketing agency's ploy to part you from your holiday fund. 

Here's to a Happy Monday (maracas optional)