Blue Monday – Fact or Fiction?

36 Replies

Yesterday was “Blue Monday”. It’s supposedly the most depressing day of the year. However, it’s something developed by a travel company in 2005. Wikipedia calls it pseudoscience, and nonsense. That is charitable. Like so many things that have a presence on the web, it is plausible and has taken on a life of its own.

I can’t help thinking that if the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year you are not leaving yourself much to look forwards to in the remaining 347 days of the year. If you read the Wiki entry it is clear that the whole thing is nonsense.

I can believe that the middle of January isn’t the most cheery time of the year, It’s dark, cold and wet. You spent too much money at Christmas, put weight on and have just about broken all your New Year Resolutions. It’s not going to be a cheerful time of the year, unless you live south of the Equator, where it is midsummer, and a very different January to mine.

I had a more depressing time last week – four days off the road, large bill for car repairs and sprinkle of disappointment from work being refused by editors. That was depressing. Blue Monday was merely a dreary day.

It seems that April and May are the peak time for suicide, which tends to suggest that the most depressing day of the year might actually be there. It also seems that lockdown is affecting mood, with a quarter of people reporting at least one mental health problem during the first lockdown and one in ten having suicidal thoughts.

I had a great time in the first one – it was basically a paid holiday with Julia, in summer. We had no work to go to, no worries and, more importantly, plenty of space and no home schooling because the kids are out of the way. I actually feel guilty about this, because it must have been horrific for some people.

Lockdown 2 was a bit depressing, but number 3 is going OK. Not as good as Number 1 but I decided to approach it in a positive manner and so far it’s working. It hasn’t been as successful or productive as I wanted it to be, but it’s still been quite good.

If today was as bad as it gets, I’ll be happy. Somehow I think there is a lot of potential for things to get worse.

I thought I’d add a picture of a shopping list. Now that I shop online I don’t use shopping lists anymore. Who would have thought that shopping lists would be a victim of Covid?

 

36 thoughts on “Blue Monday – Fact or Fiction?”

  1. tootlepedal

    Blue Monday is another result of the lack of reporters on newspapers these days. Printing PR companies handouts as news is all too common. Google search has gone the same way. You used to get information when you searched for something, now you mostly get advertisements.

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  2. Helen

    I actually had a lovely day on Blue Monday – at least in so far as I went for a walk with a friend. After two weeks of not really going much further than the end of my road, suddenly a walk in the local part on a grey January day was bliss, especially when accompanied by conversation with another adult not through a screen.

    I wonder if shopping lists feel depressed about being relegated to historic quirk?

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      2. quercuscommunity Post author

        I am getting a bit blase now that I am shopping online, but keep meaning to do a list as a reminder during the week. Age makes it more necessary. 🙂

      3. Helen

        List-making for me is a bit hit and miss – I’m good at forgetting things if I don’t make one, though!

        On the subject of age, I understand that on the whole memory doesn’t deteriorate. We just ascribe forgetfulness to aging when in fact we would have been as forgetful when younger but passed it off as one of those things.

      4. quercuscommunity Post author

        That’s possible, though I have seen it said that we lose concentration as we are using part of our brain power to think of things that come on with age, like pain and stiffening joints (and where the nearest toilet is). 🙂

      5. Helen

        Yes, we have more on our minds perhaps. I think I mostly lose concentration because daydreaming is often more interesting than reality 😊

      6. quercuscommunity Post author

        Although it seems like we have a lot of American TV here, there is a lot more we never see. I notice this when looking up actors on Wiki and realising they have been in dozens of Tv series I’ve never heard of.

      7. LA

        You really haven’t missed much. Except Barbara was good. She was famous for making her interviewees cry

    1. quercuscommunity Post author

      If I have time to sit and compose it, and use block capitals, it is often quite legible. The later biro additions are not quite so good. And if I rush and handwrite it you can probably guess the result. 🙂

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  5. Bitchy After 60

    Kind of like all those celebration days developed by the greeting card companies. Stay positive. Things could always be worse. Not having to home educate kids tops my list as a plus.

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