A Fresh Start

Although it’s a time for relaxation, summer can easily feel mundane. For those on summer break, the lack of routine or structure can make the days feel like they’re all blurring together, and for those who work from Monday to Friday, even doing work during this time can feel sluggish and slower because of the heat. This is even more true this summer, where there’s less to do and we’re confined to our homes most of the time. 

As a result, Mondays lately can feel…just like every other day. Simply put, there’s nothing new or exciting to it. For some, Mondays are the dreaded start of the work week but at home – even though you have something in your routine, doing so in a space that you’re already spending most of your time in and isn’t meant for your job can make your job and the tasks associated with it more difficult to complete. Regardless of what you’re doing, it’s easy to just pick up your phone and get sucked into hours of doing nothing but refreshing apps, doomscrolling, or getting lost in various YouTube videos.

So to no one’s surprise, Mondays gets a bad rep. We’re not going to try and convince you to make it the best day ever, but in times like these where you might be starting your work week from home (once again) or just feeling stuck in a loop of boredom and dread, making each day separate from each other and special in its own way can make a huge difference.

To make Mondays a bit more special, we recommend doing something that’s a bit more motivational or even completely new to make the upcoming week different than the ones before it. This could mean starting the week off by having your favorite kind of breakfast, sitting down for a few minutes to write down your goals for the week, or downloading a new app to try out for that week. If you’ve been putting off something you’ve wanted to do for a long time, you can possibly use Mondays to at least start chipping away at it too. You can also do this on Sunday too, since it’s the official start of the week, and you can do these new activities as a way to combat the “Sunday Scaries.”

Even if it doesn’t feel like it lately, the way we feel on Mondays can be a marker for how we feel for the rest of the week. By giving it a little more emphasis and using it as an opportunity to give yourself a fresh start for the days ahead, you might find yourself in a better mood the rest of the week too.

Are you on summer break? Are you working? What are Mondays usually like to you? How do you feel about Mondays?