Monday, Monday, Monday

HERE is a song about Mondays that will get stuck in your head and (hopefully) make you feel less sucky about the day. If nothing else, the creepy-ass monkeys in the video will give you something to talk about.

It was gross here today. The clouds were lingering quite close to the ground, just barely missing the slush that is still everywhere, and while it wasn't really raining, the air was so thick and heavy, you could probably chew it if you wanted to.

It was one of those days that makes me euro-sick, that is- one of those days that reminds me about my trip to Ireland years ago, where the weather was always like this and you wouldn't have to go too far before you found a nice grassy knoll where sheep were grazing (with colored patches on their wool so that farmers could differentiate). The fog and the damp and the almost-rain always remind me to promise myself that I'll return to Ireland one day. I feel like I will appreciate everything more now that I am out of high school. That's just the way some things are- or, okay, almost everything is.

Today is Monday. I got to thinking about it as a boarded the bus to Greene Street this afternoon. Everybody was a little droopy, perhaps because of the weather, but maybe also because it's Monday. Have you ever known somebody whose favorite weekday is Monday? I doubt it. Nobody likes them. Just ask Garfield. I think almost everybody chalks all the Monday blues up to social norms. People have hated Monday for as long as we've known, why mess with a good thing? Hell, it feels GOOD to throw a little hatred Monday's way. But did you know that there are studies that provide conclusive (ish) evidence that Mondays are ACTUALLY the most depressing day of the week? It's true. I googled it! And there are a freakishly HUGE number of articles related to this topic.

According to one article (linked here if you'd like to view for yourself), on average, people do not smile until 11:16 am on a Monday morning, and that nearly half of employees are late for work (though I think that seems rather high...) and will only log 3 1/2 hours of actual productivity (THAT, on the other hand, seems about right...). However, this article also includes a testimony from a clinical psychologist which suggests that perhaps the workplace IS the best place for you on a Monday morning- humans tend to have tribal instincts and really DO feel much better once they have reconnected with the tribe in their office, school, what have you. Once we have re-established a connection, we are more apt to get our work done, which might explain the dip in productivity that day. Though I do wonder what the numbers are like for Fridays- I feel like there's not a lot being done on those days either...

There is another study (this one) which explains that the key to avoiding the Monday blues is simple- just stop sleeping in on the weekends! Yeah, I know, what a ridiculous notion. Unfortunately, it does seem to be rooted in actual fact. Apparently, when we sleep in for a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday, we are actually giving our brains a little bit of a jet-lag, so we are not as sleepy Sunday night, and certainly not ready to hop out of bed bright and early on Monday morning. This is a very interesting point, but I'm gonna level with you- I like sleeping in on the weekends, so I'll just go with denial. Hey, that study was conducted using samples of saliva and measurement of hormones and questionnaires. Since WHEN have ANY of those things been helpful?

Regardless of what you think about Monday OR any of this silly Monday research, I feel like I should mention some cures for the Monday blues that were included in the first article (TRUST me, they needed a team of trained professionals to come up with these)....

"the best way to beat those Monday blues is by indulging in activities like watching television, having sex, online shopping, buying chocolate or make-up, or planning a holiday"

oh, okay. if you insist!

happy monday, everybody! :)