For my frequent readers, you may notice this is a revised post. For the remaining of 2023, I’ve selected and revised some of your favorite blog posts while I work to complete my first book! Many of you have been excited and reached out about my book, Psalm 119: Stringing Pearls. More updates coming soon.
Have you tried to start your Monday right only to have everything work against you? Even though you still try to stay positive, force a smile, you somehow lose grip of your coffee cup and the next thing gets ruined (you spill your coffee on your shirt or a pile of really important documents).
We’ve all been there.
We’ve all struggled through the pain of a Monday, and this made us frame Mondays as forever bad.
There are three main reasons people despise Mondays, which I’ll quickly cover with you here. Then, we’ll move on to changing this attitude and learn how to enjoy Mondays every week.
First, Monday marks the end of a cherished weekend and the return to the daily grind of work or school and mundane life for many people. After enjoying a short time of leisure, relaxation, and some kind of freedom over the weekend, the thought of picking up responsibilities and routines on Monday can be dreadful.
Two, Mondays also mean transitioning from relaxation state to a busy and structured frame of mind. This abrupt shift often leads to stress, anxiety, and angst for the workweek ahead. We don’t enjoy these feelings and associate them with Monday because it seems to happen every week, no matter what.
Finally, Mondays are typically linked to the start of a new workweek, and for some, it’s a struggle to find motivation or enthusiasm. It can be challenging to find the drive, focus, and energy after a couple of days away from work, which leads to a sense of reluctance, resistance, and even resentment.
The end of our weekend, transition stress, and lack of motivation are valid reasons for hating on Mondays. Unfortunately, this association to one day of the week created an illusion that it has to be lived and relived the same way every single week. It’s a stereotype turned into a belief.
The Monday Stereotype
What if I told you that society and culture engrained the Monday stereotype in our minds? What if we didn’t let the Monday stereotype affect us so much? What would happen if we changed our perspective about Mondays and forgot that it could ever be bad again?
When we change the narrative, we won’t feel so discouraged about things society wants to depress us with, like the conventionally labeled “bad Monday.” Yes, we will have bad days. But they won’t always be a Monday. Let’s break this stereotype.
From a young age, our minds were trained to think a certain way. We picked up habits from our parents, teachers, other adults, friends, and peers. To this day, we imitate the habits of others we watch up close, from afar, and those we spend the most time with. As we grow older, and no matter our age, it’s our responsibility to change the way we think, especially when it becomes unhealthy. It’s essential to keep learning despite how much and what we know. We need to allow ourselves room to get challenged and to get uncomfortable. This includes changing our perspective of Mondays.
Mondays have gotten stereotyped to the worst day of the week. It seems like almost everyone hates Mondays. But it’s crazy to think we can hinge on the day’s name to determine our attitude and the way we live our life. The days of the week should help us keep track of the calendar, not our moods.
When Monday rolls around, a brand-new day starts (thankfully!); when Tuesday starts, a brand-new day starts, and so on. So, I want to challenge us to fight against the stereotype that has ruined so many previous weeks in our lives. I want to encourage us to enjoy every day as if it’s the last, and to do what we love and be around those we love as if it’s “always Sunday” (another stereotype for another post). We need to learn how to live FULL of every day, because tomorrow is its own (Matthew 6:34).
There are four things we can do to help us shake off the Monday stereotype. It’ll take some practice, but I guarantee it works when we commit to it. Ready?
4 things to do to start enjoying Mondays
The overarching thing we can do to not let the Monday stereotype ruin our week is changing our perspective on what Monday means for us. The Monday stereotype sticks because it doesn’t leave our minds. For example, we hear someone complain or grunt “it’s Monday” and we latch onto that complaint as if it’s our own now. But when we change the way we think and fill our minds with healthy, positive, and encouraging thoughts, we change the way our days and weeks flow. There’s a great analogy for this.
Imagine a cup of clean water and a spoonful of dirt getting dumped into it. There’s still a lot of water in the cup, but now there are dirt pieces floating around. If we try to take the dirt out with that same spoon, we won’t avail much. We will take some dirt pieces out, but more of the water than the little dirt chunks. But if we take a pitcher of water and pour into the cup, the dirt pieces will come out by themselves, because it’s being replaced with new water.
Likewise, our minds collect spoonfuls (or buckets) of dirt (negative perspectives), and we often try to pick out each negative thought with a meagly spoon. We fixate on one chunk at a time and then beat ourselves up for not catching it. When we finally catch that chunk (certain thought/perspective), we realize there’s more dirt to scoop out. And that’s defeating. We feel like failures.
But if we filled ourselves with pitchers of fresh, clean water (encouraging, life-giving thoughts and perspectives), we will eradicate the dirt out quickly, and ultimately, live a more positive lifestyle and enjoy Mondays every week. What you put in will come out.
God is so gracious to have preserved His Word, the Bible, for us. It is alive and active, fresh, clean, and life-giving. When we fill our thoughts with His word and affirmations, it’s as if we (and the Spirit of God) pour a fresh pitcher of water into our minds and souls. When we surround ourselves with positive voices and encouraging people, it’s as if there’s a fresh pitcher of water being poured into our minds, too.
We can do the following four things to help us change our perspective of Monday and enjoy Mondays every week:
1. Practice Gratitude
Throughout the entire Bible, we see an attitude of thanksgiving. Jesus Himself practiced gratitude and thanked the Father for His provision, and Apostle Paul encouraged the churches to continue in thanksgiving. Psalms are filled with verses of thanksgiving which we can learn from. But even apart from the Bible, the secular world has taken this principle and helped many people transform their lives through this practice. Counselors, psychologists, and the self-help industry recommend practicing gratitude to help change thoughts.
Practice gratitude when you’re feeling grumpy on a Monday (or any day). Instead of voicing a complaint or gossiping about how bad Monday is being to you, change your words and thank God for this new day and the many challenging things you learned from the day. If you’re truly not grateful for the day and how it went, consider what you can be grateful for (your job, your family, health, etc.).
2. Reflect on God’s Daily New Mercy
God’s mercy is new EVERY morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). This is an astounding truth. Mercy is also defined as compassion, and when we are shown compassion (daily!), we get inspired to pass it on! God’s mercy has the power to change our thinking patterns, but we must acknowledge it and remind ourselves it’s there. When we reflect on His daily new mercy, not only do our minds change, but so do our hearts. And this makes it easier to practice gratitude and become more grateful.
Reflect on God’s daily new mercy by reminding yourself that “Mercy woke me up this morning.”It’s fresh, it’s new, and it’s available for you. Sometimes, reflecting on God’s new mercy means giving ourself some mercy, too.
3. Surround Yourself with Positive People
Proverbs 22:24-25 says, Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. We will always come across people who are pessimistic and grouchy, complaining throughout their day. So, it’s important to find people who are positive, life-giving, and encouraging. When we spend time with positive people, we will find ourselves enjoying life more because we’re no longer drained by complaints, grumpiness, and negative words and behaviors. We don’t need to learn their ways and entangle ourselves in snares, but rather walk with the wise to become wise (Provers 13:10).
Surround yourself with positive people. As it awkward as it may be, try removing yourself from groups that engage in negative conversation, gossip, and complaining. Find people who don’t engage in these behaviors. If you can’t, change things up and initiate positive conversation and BE the positive person. Others might need to see this example.
4. Challenge the Stereotype
When you think negatively about Mondays (or any day) practice gratitude, reflect on God’s mercy, AND challenge the stereotype. Consider questioning why you have such a negative approach to this day, and any other day, too. Where did you hear that “Mondays” are bad? Who said “Mondays” are the worst? It came from somewhere else before it came from you.
So, challenge the stereotype in your mind, and then go back to step one, two, and three. Another helpful tip to challenge the stereotype is to disagree when someone scoffs at Monday. Instead of going with the flow of bashing on Mondays, say something that will help you break the stereotype.
Conclusion
So if you tried to start your Monday right and things are still working against you, and you’re trying to stay positive while the coffee still spilled over, take a moment.
Stop everything.
Even if you’re “in a rush.”
Just take a deep breath.
It’s a new day.
God’s mercy is new.
Change your perspective on Monday.
You determine your attitude, not the day’s name.
tanyaremkiv 
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