Thank God it's Monday

What a cliché thing to say: "I hate Mondays."

The thought of Monday for most people means fear, anxiety, unfulfilled dreams, endless to-do lists and a stagnant life situation. We all know how it feels to have “a case of the Mondays.” Symptoms of this may include:

• Bad mood

• Restlessness

• A lack of motivation

• Not feeling like you can face the long week ahead

You don't hate Mondays. What you hate is the fact that you've lost sight of your vision.

If you're showing up to work or to school on Mondays, dreading the early-morning commute and saying to yourself, "Wow, I hate Mondays," it's not the day of the week you hate. It's the fact that you no longer remember what it is you're working toward. You have lost the clarity that comes with manifesting your dream.

That brings me to this habit we have fallen accustomed to: losing sight of the relative importance of things, simply because allow the notion of "Monday blues" to reverberate in our heads, devoting precious mental energy to situations which do not carry "life or death" consequences. Virtually all of us will fall into this trap on occasion, but those who spend the least amount of time obsessing on trivial circumstances are likely to accomplish far more and be happier in the process!

Your expectations make a difference. If you allow yourself to mirror the negative conceptions others have towards any difficult situation you experience, you'll receive what you expect.

Back in 9th grade, I remember how often my friends would express their resentment toward the rigorous tests, exams, and oral quizzes in one of my AP classes. I can still recall the countless times when my fellow peers and I would wait outside of class in the blue benches, waiting for what seemed like our departure into the threshold of River Styx.

This atmosphere of fear clouded my judgement towards test-taking. I came home to my dad in tears one afternoon, ranting "I am never going to finish studying all these vocabulary words in time for the exam! This is absolutely crazy!! I hate my class! I cannot even leave the classroom without having feeling sick to my stomach." My dad's reassuring words and his willingness to stay up with me that night helped put things in perspective for me on the day of the exam. We went through each list of words at a delicate pace. With every correct answer I gave, I slowly released all the mental and physical pressure I previously held so tight on.

After realizing how unnecessarily tense I was feeling over something I knew I could handle on my own, I came to a sudden revelation. Those who continually dwelled on nonsense spent most of their time worrying about how excruciatingly difficult the exams were going to be and the terrifying state they were going to be in, instead of focusing on the big picture. Proving your academic ability in the class, getting credit for something you work really hard at, and feeling PROUD of yourself was all that really mattered. I completely blocked all the negativity and the competition in the class. Doing well in this class was for my own personal benefit.

This new perspective helped me prepare myself and come into class with ease. I learned to embrace the pain, to embrace all of the hours I had to forgo to successfully do well in the class. And eventually, I learned a lot about myself I never even thought was a part of me. I discovered this inherent thrill inside of me when learning something new and using that insight to contextualize things that are happening in our lives or to solve a problem or answer a longstanding question that has been eating away at us. I learned how unimportant the opinions of those around me were.

And, to this day, I still apply this perspective to my experiences as a first-year college student. Sometimes it's hard not to feel intimidated by other students who understand the class material much quicker than you do. But, with grasping the clarity of what's really important and by having positive expectations of what's lying ahead, the things you were intimidated by will no longer affect you.

Nothing is too difficult to go through unless you make it difficult.

When we widen the lens of our perception, we experience less tension, improve our attitudes, develop keener insight into the meaning of our lives, and most likely enjoy greater material success as well. 

Signifying Mondays as obligations, the need to satisfy others at work, the lack of time to simply be lazy, the lack of opportunity to do something we might “actually want to do” leads us to be too preoccupied with our difficulties and fail to see the opportunities for mental and personal growth ahead. A healthy perspective encompasses these petty upsets.

So,

Stop blaming Mondays.

Over the next five years you'll receive the gift of 260 different Mondays, each one coming into your life fresh and full of promise. What kind of magic and miracles could you create with that kind of time? Why not be a maverick? Why not welcome every Monday with the same anticipation and excitement that you reserve just for Fridays?

Dislocated yourself away from the preconceived notions society has towards the difficulties that occur in life. No matter who you are, what you do, or where you live, I promise you have no lack of what to be appreciative of in your life. Start your week by taking a few minutes every Monday morning to be appreciative for the day to come, and the way you associate with the beginning of the week will begin to change on its own.