Monday Blues!

The Monday Blues! When I was a little girl, I loved going to Sunday school and church. I loved to hear the Bible stories and sing. I looked forward to going every week. My teacher, Janie Wood, did such a great job of engaging us children with felt board stories, games, songs, and activities. I always felt so happy at church. At least I felt happy during the morning service.

When I was about seven or eight, I began noticing I had a different feeling when I would attend the evening services. I noticed a feeling of sadness and dread in my body when I would think about the next day being Monday. As a child, I couldn’t understand this because I loved school even more than church. I enjoyed being with my friends, and I thought learning new things was fun. It made no sense to me that I would be sad about Monday coming because I got to go back to doing something I loved with people whose company I enjoyed.

It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized that the dread and melancholy I was feeling were not coming from me. I was picking up that energy from the adults around me.  I didn’t dread Monday at all, but that was the way most of the adults in the congregation felt because they often said so.

The people in my rural community mostly went back to low paying factory jobs every Monday that just barely made ends meet. I can remember the way they complained about their jobs. Looking back as an adult, I know this was not the life they had pictured for themselves when they were my age, but now, here they were. They didn’t particularly like where they were in life, but they felt powerless to change their circumstances. What had happened along their path in life that brought them to dread waking up every Monday morning?

Perhaps when they were young, they didn’t know how to get from where they were in life to where they truly wanted to be, and there was no one in their life to teach and encourage them to set goals. Maybe no one had ever encouraged them to dream, or worse yet, maybe someone even told them their dreams were worthless and could never come to pass. Perhaps they made choices early on that limited their choices down the road, and they thought because their dreams got delayed, it was too late, or they were too old. Maybe they were afraid to go after what they truly wanted, and they just accepted what they could find. Who knows?

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

I do know this: life’s too short to be dreading every Monday morning, dragging yourself through the week, and only feeling alive and happy on the weekend or if you’ve had a strong drink. If you have the Monday blues every week or feel you must medicate or numb yourself to get through life, I encourage you to take a long, hard look at how you’re spending your days. What is it that makes you dread the week ahead? Is it the job or just the people in your workplace? What do you have control over that you can change to make things better? Mary Engelbreit said, “If you don’t like something, change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” What choices have you made that have brought you to where you are today? What course corrections can you make?

“You cannot change your destination overnight, but you can change your direction overnight.” ~ Jim Rohn

I can’t tell you how to get from where you are to where you want to be because that answer lies within you. Only you know if you are doing what you really love and if the problem is with the job, you, or your environment. I can tell you that I know you can do anything you want to do. It’s just a matter of making up your mind and knowing in your heart you can do it and then putting in the work. Malcom Forbes said, “The biggest mistake people make in life is not trying to make a living at doing what they enjoy most.”

Are you doing what you enjoy most? If not, I encourage you to stop just making a living and start making a life. If that’s going to require major changes, surround yourself with people who will uplift and support you, people whose energy will keep you going at times when yours begins to lag. This is very important because just as I could pick up on the negative energy of those in my church congregation when I was a child, you too will be affected by the energy of those around you.

When you make up your mind to make a change and start moving forward with your plans, people and circumstances will begin to appear in your life to help you toward your goal. You don’t have to know all the steps to get from where you are to where you want to be, you just have to act. You are here to act, not just to be acted upon. If you are not looking forward to Mondays, only you can change that. You do have the power! If you settled long ago because of fear, perceived lack, or perceived limitations, act now to change your circumstances.

Shake off the fear. Shake off the doubts. Shake off the apathy. Shake off any thoughts of lack or limitations, and in no time at all, you’ll see that you’ve also shaken off those Monday blues, and you’re ready to sparkle!

“When life gives you Monday, dip it in glitter, and sparkle all day.”  Ella Woodward