Taking One Day At a Time…

HELLO everyone, I’m glad to see you here today.  My name is Linda Frame.  I’m here today with:  How to Handle the Negatives in your Daily Life….

Authors Note: For my background information, please visit my Profiles on Facebook and Linkedin.

 

I’m here to talk about the challenges, the hurdles, those ‘nothing goes right’ days and the set backs that jump in your way unexpectedly.  You may even feel like that ‘black cloud’ hanging over your head seems to have your name on it.  If a particular topic of the day here doesn’t suit you or doesn’t speak to you, that’s fine, maybe tomorrows topic will seem more interesting to your issues in your life.  

 

Today, I am going to talk to you about your mood, that’s right, your mood because after all, it’s MONDAY and aren’t you suppose to hate Mondays?  Well, let’s find out…

 

Is your Monday mood influenced today?

Mondays truly get a bad rap, and Fridays get all the love.  We’ve heard the whining, complaining, the ugly labels and the bad hype about Mondays, but really nothing surprises us anymore about how people feel about this being Monday.  Today however, with the Super Bowl behind us now, there’s a new feeling in the air about how today, a Monday, feels. 

If you’re a fan of the losing team side of the Super Bowl game, it’s going to be a long tough day.  But if you’re a fan of he winning team side, this day is awesome.  But, wait a minute, if your team won last night, it’s Monday, and I thought Monday was the day of the week that everyone dreaded and disliked, including you.  

 

Is it always going to be this way?

Let’s get real for a moment, the day of the week has nothing to do with your mood, does it, or does it?  Well, for millions of people and millions of dollars of studies, yes it does have everything to do with a lot of people on this earth.  After all, the Carpenters even knew about the awful Mondays and even wrote a song about it:  “Rainy days & Mondays”,  so it must be true!  Study’s have also been done to prove how awful Mondays are haven’t they?   Well, no, not scientifically proven yet due to the many factors that influence they way people feel about Mondays.  However, there was actually a poll that was taken a few years ago when, I believe it was, US News and Report had completed a poll.  The question was submitted asking about not just about Mondays but said; “do rainy days, winter days OR Mondays make you feel depressed” =  yes 87% no 13%, but since the question covered all 3 analogies that included rainy days, winter days and Mondays, the poll was thrown out.

 

So, is Monday really the worse day?

A couple of years ago in the New York Times wrote “there is strong evidence that we hate Monday because we are supposed to hate Monday.”  They further claimed “several studies show that Monday is not the worst day of the week and only rates marginally less exciting than Fridays for most people”.  So, there you have it, after all if it’s in was in the paper it must be right because they said it was so.  Now we know the media is less than 100% accurate don’t we?  The only reason I knew about that article was because the Academy of Emergency Medicine was doing their own study about which day of the week there happened to be more traumatic incidents that increased the average number of patient visits in the emergency rooms on each day of the week.  That study wound up being inconclusive and was also thrown out.

 

Everyone dislikes Monday, don’t they?

To say “everyone” dislikes Monday is not true at all.  In fact, A few weeks ago, I met a wonderful new friend who is a very successful entrepreneur from New Zealand, and she happens to adore Mondays.  She says” I love Mondays, I get to ‘recharge’ on Mondays”…..  There is actually a lot of truth to my friends analogy about Mondays because there are so many things that can be credited just to the fact that it IS a Monday.  Let me share some of them:

 

Change your thoughts about Mondays:

Start out Fresh:  On Mondays, take advantage of a ‘fresh start’ at the beginning of the week and change up your boring usual to-do list and make it more appealing and fun list, then by Friday you will feel a whole lot better once you see and feel you’ve accomplished a more energizing list.

Give yourself a Second chance:  Having a new fresh start to the week, a chance to do better or perform better than you did last week.  If you’re the grumpy one on Mondays, start Monday by leaving all the negative outside.  Just because you’re grumpy, there is no reason to bring everyone else down.  If you think by not saying anything shouldn’t bother anyone else, well, you are wrong because your actions also bleed negativity.  The Negative mood that you have acts like a very fast domino effect on everyone around you in less than 15 minutes within your whole department at work, then anyone around you will also have a bad day.  Negativity is very contagious and fast spreading and a sure fire way to kill anyone who was in a positive mood before you showed up.  Just image yourself being on the receiving end of your own grumpy, hateful mood.  It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say something, what you don’t say and the give away is:  how you act.  No likes walking on egg shells around one person who is grumpy, so, get over yourself, it’s really not fun to be around you when you are grumpy.

 

 

Stop being a drag:  

Look at Mondays as being about new opportunities, second chances, new responsibilities, being useful, trying new things  (like your attitude) and being more mature once you keep the positive outlook going.   This is your chance to stop being so negative and be positive for the rest of the day at home AND at work.  Be honest and dig deep within yourself and figure out what it is that makes you such a negative drain all the time and handle yourself more positively with everyone you come in contact with.  

I challenge you do be consistent and leave your negative moods in the garbage on Monday, then the next day and the next for a week.  Then over the following weekend, look back and remember how you and everyone around you felt.  Woohoo!

Stop listening to the negative news on the radio and television, stop reading the negative news in the paper and, STOP COMPLAINING!  Turn on upbeat positive music and sing along in your car or in the house / office.  Stop being offensive like swearing all the time and use your fingers for something else, like tapping to the music.  Smile at people, open doors for someone, don’t be in a rush to beat someone to the stop light.  

 

THINK ABOUT THIS:  Take an honest look at WHO is observing all of your negative and offensive behavior = your kids, your spouse, your friends, your parents, your co-workers, your pets….  these are the people you are projecting your negativity on, and they don’t deserve to be treated like that?  Treating people and animals negatively and hatefully is disrespectful, selfish, and energy taxing/draining for them.  Did you know:   “How you do one thing, is how you do everything”…….  It’s what you’re known for.

So, if you THINK you are going to have a terrible day, then that is exactly what will happen.  Your attitude and thoughts first thing in the morning, just like on the first day of the week, aka Monday, will determine the rest of the day and the rest of the week…..

 

Not convinced, try something different.  

If nothing I’ve written so far convinces you, and no one around you is brave enough to tell you straight out about your terrible attitude, try making a few tweaks to your diet.  Try including:  salads, eggs, green tea, apples, cinnamon, and even a little chocolate, which are all natural ways to boost your mood and energy.  You should however, avoid too much caffeine or sugar.  While you may feel an immediate boost, the crash later may make the caffeine and sugar a very bad choice.

 

 

Although it IS Monday, make it a fresh start, a day to “recharge” yourself, an opportunity to get a second chance to improve over last week.  If last week was great, then make this week even better.  BUT, start today fresh and new, because today IS the first day of the rest of your life…..

 

 

See you tomorrow.

 

I would love to hear from you, your thoughts and comments.  I would also like to hear of any topic suggestions you would like discussed here that may interest you.  

*NOTE:   All comments are kept confidential.