Fats Domino sang “Blue Monday, how I hate Blue Monday. Got to work like a slave all day.”
Not to be outdone, the Carpenters sang “Hangin’ around. Nothin’ to do but frown. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.”
Then Mark Chesnutt continued the theme with “Well, it sure is Monday, isn’t it now. Gotta get myself through the week somehow. I had a ball Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but it’s all over now and it sure is Monday.“
Every year, on New Years Eve, just like many of you, I get on an emotional roller coaster. I really do. Throughout the day, I’m typically happy, upbeat, watching football, hanging out with friends, eating lots of good food. But long about 10:30 that night, I typically hit a 
down slope. I’m big on “reflection,” which really isn’t all that bad, and I start thinking about all of the things that I’ve experienced throughout the year – both good and bad. Typically, I must admit, there is a feeling of sadness. I’m sad that those good times I experienced are gone, and I get a little frustrated over the things that I should have accomplished, but didn’t.
The clock strikes midnight, I watch the big ball of lights come down, listen to the neighborhood kids shoot fire works, then I go to bed.
But every year, I wake up on New Year’s Day, pumped and ready, and excited. I have a brand new reading list that I’m ready to get started, a new list of things I want to get accomplished, and I begin – right then.
Imagine for a moment if we all viewed Monday the same as we do New Years Day.
It’s Monday! A new beginning! Everything I messed up last week, I can begin to fix or improve upon this week.
There have beens studies that show more heart attacks and strokes happen on Monday than on any other day of the week. But it is not because of work, because other studies have been done of retirees and guess what – the same results. To make things even more interesting, the surge of heart attacks that appear in these studies on Monday, do not show up when the Monday is a holiday. How bizarre.
According to Wall Street experts, it is more likely that the stock market will drop on Monday than on any other day of the week.
There is even one study that revealed the average person does not smile on a Monday until after 11 a.m. (Now how they did that study I’ll never know….but still)
So how do we turn the tide on the Monday blues?
I have several ideas.
First of all, go back and ready my blog entitled Happiness Is A Choice from Aug 6, 2018. Decide that you are going to choose to be happy on Monday. Do not allow the culture to dictate how you are going to feel on Monday simply because it is Monday.
Sleep! Go to bed earlier on Sunday night. Be refreshed and ready to go Monday morning (especially if you partied a little too much on Saturday night)
Time management! Sit down on Sunday evening, plan out your week, know in advance 
what you have to do and strategize how you are going to do it. Open lines of communication with your spouse and with your boss, with your children, with your baby sitter. Plan your dinner menu. If you wake up Monday morning overwhelmed by what you have to do during the week, and you have no plan of attack, then you will find yourself behind the eight ball right out of the gate. Also, do not schedule everything for the first part of the week. You will get overwhelmed. Spread out your week as much as possible, but make both Monday and Friday as light as possible. I want you to use Friday as your prep day for the next work week.
Consider using Monday as a way to better your career. Wait…what??? How? It has been proven that Monday has a major, negative affect on productivity and job performance for many people. If everybody else in your office is going to come in late, not smile, not really get into gear until after lunch, are going to be less engaged with their job, then use this opportunity to show the boss what you can do. Be the first to the office. Heck – bring donuts. Smile (before 11 a.m.)!!!
Finally, find a way to do something for someone else on Monday. Again, if you know most people are going to be down, depressed, moving slow, full of anxiety, then find someone (your spouse, your teenager, your car pool partner, your boss, the person at the desk next to you) and do something for them. Bring them coffee and a biscuit, take them to lunch, if possible, help them with a project. I promise you – if you will do something kind for someone else, it will make your Monday 100% better.
But whatever you do, do not listen to Stormy Monday by the Allman Brothers.
Life begins TODAY!!!
Life begins today! 