A Crusade Against Monday Blues

When you die today, what do people in your tier 2 social net (those who are beyond the immediate & extended family) say? Today the govt school teacher died, the skin doctor died, the author died, the bakery shop owner died, etc.,

How do people identify us:

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We pass through various identities in our entire life, starting out initially when we’re born as being called – “that baby”, then between our 2 – 13 years age as “that child”, then marking for 14 to 20 years phase of our life as “that teenager”, then it is “that youth” when we are under 30 and then suddenly for the rest of our life one thing become synonymous to our identity – the profession we are in (Doctor, Engineer, Govt Officer, etc.,).

Multiple Identities Vs Single Identity:

Early years of life can take multiple identities simultaneously, such as the govt college student + kathak dancer + cricket player + so-and-so’s son, etc.,  But when we start pursuing a line of profession to build our family & living, the profession takes the overriding lead in how we are identified.

If such is the enormity of professional identity, then why do we all have something called “Monday Blues”, at the turn of every new week?

What is Monday Blues?

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We all have heard it, said it; and like in my case, struggle to come out of it.

Having Blues is an expression which means you are mildly sad or depressed. Monday Blues is an expression which denotes being sad or depressed that you’ve got an entire week ahead (read work week) before the next weekend kicks in.

Let’s statistically see how significant are the work days in the “active years” of our life.

Assume you live for 70 years, and in that first 26 years gets attributed to “growing-up” part and the last 10 years for leading a relaxed retirement. You are now left with 34 years sandwiched in between!

Total no of days in 34 years is ~ 12410 (34 X 365, conveniently ignoring the leap years).

If we take away the 2 days of the weekend, we are left with 8864 days constituting working days (8864 X 5/7).

Assuming you live in a country like India, which has overabundance of public and religious holidays, let’s assume a total of 20 days per year for this and then you are left with 8184 days to work (8864 – 20 X 34).

So total work days embody an inevitable 66% of your professional life, which coins your identity.

Do we need to suffer from any kind of depression in these ¾ th portion of our lifetime? Or shouldn’t we be bubbly and overburst with motivation, eagerly looking forward to each working day?

War To Conquer Blues:

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On the 16th of April 2018, I asked myself the same question. Why have I not cracked the formula to feel totally motivated and eager to take an upcoming work day, in this close to 16 years of my mainstream career?

I winced at my failure to not overcome this so-called Monday Blues, which has been continuously plaguing me in the last decade & half old career.  

I then decided to conquer Monday Blues within the next 30 days! (yes what has been successfully sticking with me for so long, am going to shrug off in just next 30 days)

I have decided to walk the path to freedom from Blues, and once I reach the destination it is time to share the secret formula with the world.

The road less travelled doesn’t mean the destination is unsafe. Can I turn Monday Blues to Monday Mania? Well, let’s wait and watch as after all, i am only taking my first step yet – decision to overcome the monster!