I’m done with Monday Syndrome.

Over the past few months I’ve talked openly about trying to change not only my perspective on my life, but in my attitude too. It’s a very hard road at times, no-one can ever be positive one hundred percent of the time and I would never claim to live up to that impossible standard, but the harder days is when gratitude plays a significant part.

The one thing about trying to have a more optimistic perspective is that you look at every aspect of your life to see where the negative energy tends to stem from and I’m very lucky that my period of therapy so far has had a massive impact of me figuring out the positive and the negative.

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“Remember, Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks.” A quote said very simply on Twitter by Ricky Gervais that always seems to have stuck with me. There’s nothing more time consuming that complaining about a Monday, just think about it; the amount of time you complain about it, you could be doing something a lot more productive. You could be looking up a new class to go to, you could be planning a run, you could be writing a blog post or you could be reading a new book for example. The amount of time and quite frankly, energy we put into moaning about it on Twitter, thinking about it in our head or actively talking about it, don’t you think we could use our time more wisely?

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I think the majority of us can admit that we’ve either felt like this or still feel like this on a Monday and it is understandable. Many of us start back to work on a Monday so that means coming back from a chilled work-free weekend so it can be overwhelming to start back for another week. Let’s face it, most of us are in a career for the next forty to fifty years, so I’m sorry to break it to you but Monday’s will keep coming round every week for the next while and there is no way I’m spending the rest of my life complaining about something that I can’t change.

So what can we do about it? Well we can’t avoid Mondays so here’s what I personally do to make the start of my work week on a better note.

 

1) Have a morning routine.

For me, having a morning routine is absolutely key to keeping my mind in check and my morning starts at 4am, yes, I did just say 4am! For those wondering why, I’ll be writing a blog post on my routine soon (which will be linked here) but ever since having a morning routine, my day has started off on a better foot. I’m not always running late for work (It does still happen sometimes, I’m not perfect!), I’ve given myself enough time to meditate, head to the gym, have a tasty breakfast and have some cuddles with my kitten before I leave for the day. It’s all about what is important to you and how you want your morning to look, which leads me onto my second tip…

2) Find your motivation.

This is one of the most important points I’ll make in today’s post. Why? Let’s face it, if you don’t have anything to get up for in the morning apart from work, how will you convince yourself to do it otherwise? For me, I wake up early and go to the gym. What’s my motivation? Well, I like to live a healthy and active lifestyle, I prefer going to the gym in the morning rather than the evening and I see myself constantly progressing when in a gym or workout environment. So whether that’s feeling like my fitness levels have been raised when I’m pushing myself on a cardio machine, hitting another personal best on a weight machine or getting a faster time during a run; that progress is what makes me strive to go to the gym more. Your motivation could be that you want to sit and eat your breakfast in peace instead of only having five minutes to eat it while rushing out the door. Your plan could be to get up twenty minutes earlier and either get ready for work and have that extra time before taking some time for yourself to sit down and eat your breakfast, or why not do it the other way around? Your motivation can be that simple, but if you can’t find a reason to change your morning even by the slightest detail to boost your mood, then you have to ask yourself, do you really want to change?

3) Plan your week.

I love knowing what I’m going to do for the next week and if you’re like me, you’ll know how satisfying it is choosing what days to go to the gym, when you’re going to meet up with a friend or even have a night to yourself. Whatever plans you like to make, write them down somewhere you’re going to be looking on a regular basis and make sure they’re realistic. Being busy every single night of the week might seem like your productivity is at its highest but if you don’t pencil yourself in for some down time, are you going to have time to enjoy yourself in amongst the busyness of the week?

4) Having time for myself.

Reflecting on my last point, taking some time for yourself is incredibly important. For the last five months, I’ll admit, this hasn’t been on the top of my list, but I’m going to make it a priority again soon. Every Monday evening after work, I would attend my favourite yoga class about thirty seconds away from my office. Now you might think it’s strange to go to yoga on a Monday night, it sounds more like a weekend or even a Thursday or Friday activity. Surprisingly (when I didn’t have a morning routine), this is what made me just a little more excited for Monday’s. I got to focus on myself and be present for an entire hour without my phone and without worrying about anything. You don’t have to have your “me time” be a yoga class; It can be having a date night once a week with your partner, you can have your best friend round for a tea or coffee, you can go to bed a little earlier with a candle lit and read a good book. You don’t have to be extravagant and book yourself in for a manicure every week (but if you want to do that, and can afford to, then you do you!), it really can be very simple things that will give you a better perspective on the week.

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In no way am I saying that I never complain about going to work or the fact that it’s Monday again, I do sometimes but I don’t want to do that forever. I don’t want to “live for the weekend”, why live for two days out of the week when you can make the most of the seven we already get? Monday’s are always seen as a new week, a new perspective and a fresh start so use that positivity in your favour. You never know what you might achieve by slowly changing your mindset around!

Why I Don’t Drink Alcohol.

I made the decision not to drink when I was around sixteen. I had half a glass of Peach Schnapps when I was about fourteen and a sip of champagne at my formal when I was sixteen. That’s the height of my drinking, honestly. Ever since I was sixteen, I’ve always been asked why I don’t drink and I really don’t mind being asked; if people are genuinely interested, then I’m happy to answer. I don’t know many other twenty five year olds that don’t drink so I think that’s why when most people see someone not drinking when everyone else is, they can be taken aback.

I always get told “If you control how much you drink, you’ll not lose control” or the best one yet, “You don’t lose control, you know what you’re doing all the time.” Both wrong in my opinion, I believe that once alcohol enters your system, you’re not in control like you were before. Yes, of course there is science behind it all but I still wouldn’t let my boyfriend drive after one drink. Call me overly cautious and yes, he would still be under the limit, but if you’re choosing to drive, don’t drink. That’s why I offer to drive, I really don’t mind it; I actually like driving so it’s never a problem for me.

I don’t know whether this is because of the zero drinking or because of the type of person I am but I would rather come home after a long week of work, stick on the TV and have a big cup of tea rather than go out on a night out. Going out is a lot of effort, and don’t get me wrong, I go out sometimes and it’s nice but I couldn’t do it every week or every fortnight; once a month might even be pushing it. I find when I used to go out (when I was just with friends) I would hit the 11:30pm mark and I wouldn’t be able to have a decent conversation so that was always my cue that it was almost home time. Having someone repeat themselves over and over again or someone just talking absolute nonsense in your ear is something that I personally can’t listen to until the early hours of the morning in a very noisy night club (unless it’s my boyfriend and he’s just adorable when he tells me stories when he’s been drinking).

Money is also a huge factor. So on an average night out, I used to spend more money on taxis getting home than my drinks. I drink water and pure orange, that’s it! Oh, and let’s be realistic here, if it was even a little sociable acceptable, I would ask for a tea but I think that might be a step too far, don’t you? I don’t drink fizzy drinks or sparkling water, it’s just water and pure orange. So normally the water is free and the dearest I’ve paid for an orange is around £3 (I only bought one that night after that price!). Alcohol is not cheap! So why not go out, still have a good time without the massive cost and buy myself something else that I might be able to get more use out of?

Now I don’t think I’m a perfect person because I don’t drink. The last thing I want to do is come across like someone who thinks “Oh look at me, I don’t drink so I’m automatically better than you” because I really have never thought like that. I’m not any better or any  worse because I choose not to drink it.

I hope this post gave you an insight into someone who doesn’t drink. I have no problem with people who drink by the way! If you drink, cool. If you don’t, cool. I have zero problem with it. What I do have a problem with is when people don’t understand and don’t actually listen. No, I don’t want “one drink”, I’ve said no, what’s so hard about that? Thankfully over the past few years, my teenage years and now in my mid twenties, I haven’t had too many of those experiences. It just seems that it seems to be such a foreign concept to some people and it’s all about understanding at the end of the day.

(Images from pexels.com)