Monday Morning Blues

Finally I get down to writing a post on Monday Morning Blues, on a Sunday-night / Monday-morning. Been thinking of writing one for sometime now - but somehow every time I thought of it, the day wasn't a Monday. It isn't fun to write about the most-despised-most-dreaded-day-on-the-week, on any other day.

It is fun for me to look at people, how they start cringing as Sunday evening nears its end - Monday Morning Blues clearly become visible on their faces and suddenly cheer and excitement of the weekend dies (prematurely, in my opinion). Fun part is how different people share their similar emotions towards Monday mornings. Some will shut themselves, focus on tasks of the week ahead...some will not refrain to show their animosity towards Monday mornings...some others will look & feel tired, bored and almost-tortured-out-of-bed.

Whether it is clearly written on someone's face, or hidden behind a small frown - whether it is spoken out aloud, or just felt inside...whether it is shared by one & all or just by one alone in a group...nothing seems to change the emotion "I hate Mondays!".

In recent past I have come across self help gurus and other 'enlightened' men talk about evils of today's work culture. Their take has been that most people are not doing what they love...what they enjoy. In their opinion, since people aren't happy doing what they are doing - they look forward to the weekend 3.5 days a week and then dread Monday mornings half the weekend. In the end, people are neither happy during the work-week, nor relaxed and at rest during the weekend.

These 'enlightened' men also talked about evils of the weekend for this group of people, which looks forward to the weekend to unwind. Problem cited is simply that of going-overboard-in-unwinding-activities.  

I partly agree with their view that this is indeed a vicious cycle - half the week is spent looking forward to the weekend and half the weekend is spent dreading the week ahead. This sort of cycle doesn't allow work productivity during work ween, nor does it allow people to relax / unwind as much as they wanted to during weekends. What I don't agree with are their views: 1) on people looking forward to the weekends only because they don't enjoy their work and 2) about evils of weekend unwinding. 

Looking forward to the weekend isn't just about getting away from work, it mostly about connecting with oneself...connecting with family & friends...spending time together and at leisure...doing household chores...doing things that are not necessarily structured and are not 'same'. Also, I can never see the harm in an old saying - work hard, party harder. If people want to keep 'work hard' bit from Monday to Friday and then 'party harder' bit for the weekend, so be it!

I am lucky, I guess, that I don't suffer from Monday Morning Blues. Lucky, I say, because of how my first trimester at TSM had classes all 7 days (yes, even on Sundays)...my first job required me to report to duty 360+ days in a year (circulation at TOI, newspaper is printed and circulated almost everyday). These three years completely removed any and all notions I had for weekend, holiday-no-work-day and thus, also about Mondays. 

Coupled with a tight work schedule, in first few years, is a fact that I have never had a 5-working-day-week. I have always worked on Saturdays, whether as a half day or even from home...I believe this relieved pressure off Monday mornings. Another learning I had during first few years of professional life was - not to wait for the weekend to enjoy life. This learning changed my view of working day and limitations that people attach with it. I have never heard my inner-voice tell me - "don't do this, don't go there...because you have to go to office tomorrow". I have learnt to live life for the moment and still be at work, fresh and beaming! Definitely lucky...