It’s Monday and you wake up with the Blues.
Nobody likes Mondays. It’s a reminder that the weekend is over and that you need to drag yourself back to work.
Monday Morning Blues have been known to cause depression and anxiety among a large number of working people.
In fact, statistically, you are more prone to have a heart attack on a Monday morning than on a Friday evening.
The reason is clear. Stress.
Here’s a few things I learned through my career, on how to cope with the same.
1) Wake up a little later:
A little extra sleep can go miles in helping you wake up rested and happy. My recommendation is that you catch up on an extra hour of sleep on a Sunday night. It will help you wake up fresher. Monday mornings are usually packed with many things to do before you getting to work. So in case you can’t wake up later, sleep a little earlier on Sundays.
2) Work a little on Sunday
Sunday evenings usually end up as dead time. More than half the stress we have about Monday, begins in the early evening on a Sunday. That’s when we start thinking about the thousands of things that need to be accomplished in the coming week. This causes us stress and anxiety. And prevents us from actually enjoying the evening.
The best way to deal with it? Make a list of what needs to be done and finish off a few of those tasks on a Sunday evening. This is usually very tough to do, as your mind justifies to you that you’re paid to work for 5 or 6 days a week. A day off is a day off!
However, even after you’ve decided that you won’t work… come what may, your mind is still stressing about what needs to be completed.
So fight the urge to ‘not work’ and do a little of what you can, to reduce your stress for Monday morning.
3) Exercise
The best way to fight off blues on a Monday morning, is an abundance of endorphins. And the best way to get the endorphins kicking in is to exercise. A good workout never fails to get your spirits high, ready to take on the world and anything that comes your way.
4) Meditate
Even if you do not believe in meditation in the spiritual sense, sitting in one place, in silence, focusing on relaxing your mind, calms you down, helps you to control your anxiety and gives you a better grip on the work and problems at hand.
5) Get to office early / on time
Reaching office late on a Monday, only increases your stress, because by the time you reach, others who you need to collaborate with, are already in, throwing queries, emails and questions at you, as soon as you get in. Before you can settle in, you are overloaded with queries that need to be answered. So you start off on the back foot, and spend most of the day, trying to get back to even keel.
Getting in early, gives you time to plan your day, structure it out and be ready by the time others start their days.
These are a few of the methods that have helped me cope with the Blues on a Monday morning. It may work for you. It may not. But hey, what’s the harm in trying, right?
In any case, if none of the above works, you could always shift to a Gulf country. Their weekly off is on a Friday. So you may have Saturday blues, but you’ll never be blue on a Monday morning again! 🙂
These are just a few of the ways I’ve discovered, that work well for me. If you have your own Monday Morning Blues Busters, please share them in the comments below!
photo credit: Life Mental Health via photopin cc
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