And I never even realized it until college. Not that there was anything newly bad with Mondays once i started college. I just found myself saying that more often at that juncture in my life.
Every time I said it, my mom would tell me this story of how, when she had her first job out of college, she carried a tote bag with Garfield the cat on it that read, "I hate Mondays."
Mondays are the rude awakening to the beautiful dream that is my weekend.
Monday means back to the grindstone of classes and work. I wake up every Monday morning saying, "Wait, wasn't it just Friday?"
So, I'm not usually the happiest camper on Mondays.
This past Monday, the first day of my Winter Quarter for the school year, I happened to pick up a free copy of the Chicago Tribune (thank you, College Readership Program). Much to my delight, columnist Barbara Brotman offered me the following ways to fight the Monday/winter blues:
-"Get out of yourself. Get out of your head. Do not ever use the term 'personal happiness' unless you're using it ironically. Happiness is not personal; it's relational. Think of your happiness in terms of relationships with other people -- family, friends, co-workers, strangers or, if you want to be metaphysical, your relationship with the universe."
On that note, I'd like to throw in my own suggestion: share a smile. Smiling releases endorphins and really does make you feel better. Plus, they're contagious.
-"Squelch envy. Envy is the only one of the seven deadly sins that has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. And it is toxic when it comes to happiness."
-"Do not win the lottery. It will not make you happy. Or rather, it will make you happy for a short period, but then you will return to your set point of happiness."
-"Express gratitude on a regular basis. People who express gratitude are happy."
I particularly like this piece of advice. I say thank you a lot to people. I've even thanked people after I help THEM. Crazy right? My friends have told me I say thank you too much. Here's why!
-"You can buy lots of stuff, but don't be materialistic. It's the attitude of being materialistic that makes people less happy."
-"Have sex. People with active sex lives are happier than people without."
Lol, thank you, Barbara!
-"Eat chocolate. It contains chemicals that trigger the release of serotonin in the brain."
-"Combine the last two activities in some way. Messy, but effective."
-"Shorten your commute. People with long commutes are not happy, not only because of the frustrations of commuting but in terms of opportunity costs. Time spent commuting is time spent away from things like forming relationships with people that would make you happy."
-"And don't think about happiness too much. Happiness is a byproduct of life lived well. It is when we try to tackle it head-on that it slips out of our grasp. Don't buy books on happiness. Except for one. And give that to your friends."
You can check out the full article here : http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-brotman-get-happyjan04,0,979874.column
May you find happiness this week :-D!
