Blue Monday
Every January, Blue Monday turns up with a familiar message: this is the hard day. The one we’re meant to brace ourselves for. The most miserable Monday of the year.
A lot of people do feel low around this time. Winter drags on. Energy is thin. Work has restarted and spring still feels far away. None of that is imagined.
But here’s the quieter effect of days like Blue Monday: once a day is officially labelled “difficult”, we stop questioning it. Feeling flat starts to feel expected. Pulling back feels sensible. Getting through becomes the goal.
That doesn’t mean the feeling isn’t real. It is. The problem is what the label invites us to do with it — accept it, endure it, move on.
You don’t have to.
Low mood isn’t always something to push away, but it isn’t always something to simply put up with either. Sometimes it’s a sign that something in your life is taking more than it’s giving. Pace, pressure, routines, expectations — the everyday stuff that rarely gets a headline but slowly adds up.
This is where the usual “look after yourself” advice can miss the mark. Self-care often gets framed as finding ways to cope better. To soften the edges. To carry on a little more comfortably. But looking after yourself can also mean noticing what you’ve been tolerating without really choosing.
That might be tiredness that never quite lifts. Or a week that feels like something to survive rather than live. Or the sense that your time isn’t really yours anymore. None of this is dramatic. It’s common. And because it’s common, it’s easy to dismiss.
If this Monday feels heavy, it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. And it doesn’t mean you have to explain it away or fix it by the afternoon. Sometimes it’s enough to take the feeling seriously — not as a verdict on who you are, but as information.
And if today turns out to be just another Monday, that’s fine too. Not every day needs meaning or insight. Some days are simply days.
Blue Monday will pass. The more useful question is what you do with the feeling it points to — and whether you automatically accept the story you’ve been handed, or pause long enough to decide for yourself.
