Turn Blue Monday into You Monday

Helen Moon, chief executive, EventWell, busts the myth of 'Blue Monday'. She encourages eventprofs to take care of their mental health everyday.

It may surprise you to hear that many mental health professionals, organisations and psychologists do not believe in Blue Monday. I add myself to this cohort.

The concept emerged in 2005 and was part of a PR stunt from a UK Travel Company. There are now many businesses that see it as an opportunity to try and sell us products and services designed to improve our mood and outlook, therefore ensuring that we have kept talking about it and are now establishing it as a day of awareness.

The origins came from a psychologist Dr. Cliff Arnall, who was cited in the original press release and who had devised a formula that pointed to the third Monday in January as being ‘the gloomiest of the year’.

Arnall’s formula considered many factors, weather, levels of debt, post-Christmas period, New Year resolutions that have possibly already been broken, and general low morale and motivation levels.

There are many experts that now call the above ‘pseudoscience’, with one of Arnall’s university colleagues, Dr Dean Burnett himself stating, “there is no such thing as a 24-hour depression”.

Arnall has since apologised for misleading anyone and subsequently now campaigns against the concept of Blue Monday.

However, if you do choose to recognise the concept, then focus today on the essentials of maintaining and looking after your mental wellbeing every day of the year.

Here are a few ways that you can do this:

1) Turn the day into an opportunity to check in

Check in on yourself and your friends and family, how are you feeling today, and use every Monday morning as an opportunity to check in on how you are feeling? Samaritans have the perfect solution for this and have renamed Blue Monday, ‘Brew Monday’, encouraging everyone to reach out for a cuppa and a chat with the people we care about. 

2) Take some time out for yourself

Why not take today to do something new for your wellbeing that you can do all year round. Making change is all about adopting small bitesize ideas that you can develop into big impactful habits. Do something that is all about you and that you are likely to want to repeat. Maybe try a guided meditation for the first time, buy a new book and read the first chapter, try out a new recipe and meal that you could start cooking regularly, switch your phone off at 10pm, go for a quick 20 minutes swim, run or walk. When you have done this, you then hit the repeat button as often as you can.

3) Book some time away or a holiday

Psychologists believe that having something to look forward to helps us feel less stressed or anxious. The original Blue Monday press release had this idea in mind, that today is the perfect time and opportunity to book some time away, even if it has not exactly worked out quite how that travel company originally intended.

It doesn’t need to be a holiday, bearing in mind there are many that cannot afford this right now, maybe a weekend staying with family and friends, a self care day, a lunch date, catch up over tea or coffee. Making sure that you always have at least one thing planned ahead, to spend time with your nearest and dearest or in your own space, will ensure that you will always have something to look forward to.

Turn Blue Monday into ‘You Monday’, and always remember that if you are feeling low today, then the best possible way to beat the January Blues is to talk to someone.