Brighten up your Blue Monday!
Dr Tom MacLaren, Consultant Psychiatrist at Re:Cognition Health shares his top tips to help you overcome the Monday blues today:
Blue Monday is known as the most depressing day of the year. With the excitement of the festive period being a distant memory, drained finances, the reality of work and routine being fully embedded and the dark, cold, short, gloomy days of January – it’s no surprise why this day has such a bad rap!
There are many things you can do to ease these Monday blues:
Plan a summer holiday so you have something to look forward to
Exercise to get the feel-good endorphins flowing (even brisk walking for about 20 minutes per day is great!)
Buy yourself some flowers to brighten up your home and set yourself some goals to accomplish in the year ahead.
Make time to have lunch with your colleagues at work and have dinner with your family.
Think of three good things that made your day special and give you motivation at the start of each day.
Make time to see friends you might not have seen in a while.
Keeping your brain and mind busy can also be really helpful.
Think about learning to cook something new, taking on a DIY task at home or even a new role at work.
Focus on things you enjoy and let go of the things you don’t.
Volunteering and helping each other can also give us a lot of happiness- even small things like thanking your colleagues for their work at the end of the day can mean a lot.
Stay bright and positive this Blue Monday!