Are your Monday blues telling you something serious?

Instagram is like the promised land where nobody has bad hair days, where Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas are madly in love (never mind contrary reports in the press) and everyone eats picture-perfect meals. True to form, a friend has an ongoing Instagram theme titled ‘Monday Blues’, where her Mondays look anything but blue. In fact, that’s the whole idea. Every Monday morning, she posts pictures of what she’s grateful for that Monday morning, even if she’s not particularly looking forward to the long working week ahead. This could be something as simple as the image of a hot, steaming cup of tea in a cheery mug, accompanied by her favourite cookies.

At first, I scoffed at the idea. It seemed to me like she was trying too hard to convince herself that there was something good to be said about the ending of a relaxed weekend; the start of a week of long, sweaty commutes; a difficult-to-please boss and unreasonable clients. But soon, the idea grew on me and I actually started looking forward to her posts. Her “attitude of gratitude” rubbed off on me. And isn’t that what most of life boils down to anyway—attitude?

Okay, so you have Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada for a boss. Or you downright hate your job but don’t have the choice of quitting because you need the money. “A fat lot of good my attitude is going to do then,” I can hear you muttering. Right? Well, wrong. Kinda.

Attitude does not just allude to finding the silver lining in a dark thundercloud. It encompasses a whole range of things. Like preparation, for example. So let’s say you have a really hard taskmaster for a boss. How about heading her off at the pass by really preparing for the week ahead? Say you carve out a couple of hours on Friday evening just to prepare for Monday morning. Research the hell out of the new client you’re expected to meet on Monday. Or, go beyond the line of duty on the report you’re expected to present to your monster boss. This way you not only have a stress-free weekend to look forward to, but you’ll also be putting your best foot forward on Monday. And like they say, well-begun is half-done! Your boss will be pleasantly surprised and she’ll be more than likely to go easy on you. Win-Win!!

‘But I’ll still hate my job!’ Did I just hear you wail that? Well, it’s one thing to generally be reluctant to let go of the weekend and start the workweek. That’s normal and human. But if you really, REALLY dread going into your workplace every Monday, maybe it’s time to seriously pause and reconsider. Are you really out of options work-wise, or are you just crippled by inertia? Or are you just holding onto your crappy job because you’re scared to venture out of your comfort zone? Is the money you’re earning by gritting your teeth through the workweek, worth the irreparable damage the chronic stress you’re putting yourself through is causing? These are all questions you need to take a long hard look at and then come to a decision. You might just surprise yourself with the answers.

But then these are the serious questions. For the rest of us who are blessed because we do like our jobs but just don’t want to let go of the decadent weekend, I have just one thing to say: Get your asses back to work! It’ll be Friday before you know it! And in the meantime, there’s always Utopian Instagram to tide you through!