Today Is Officially The Most Depressing Day Of The Year
They're calling it "Blue Monday," and it's the most depressing day of the year. But why?
The good news is, the winter blahs are peaking and it can only get better from here.
Days like Taco Tuesday and Throwback Thursday can be fun, but this Blue Monday idea is a total bummer. Dr. Cliff Arnall, a U.K.-based psychologist, coined the term “Blue Monday” 14 years ago to describe the third Monday in January. How did he come up with it?
People Magazine said Dr. Arnall used an equation that considered the weather, holiday bills and debt, broken New Year's Resolutions, and a person's general level of motivation about work and life at this point in the month. Apparently, all of that adds up to make January 21 a little less than cheery for a lot of folks.
A vacation company commissioned the study and asked the psychologist to find the most depressing day of the year so they could market pick-me-up vacations to the beach, so we might want to take it with a grain of salt, especially those with legitimate issues with depression and anxiety. Don't let this add to your stress! It will be okay, and January 22 will be here soon enough. And a beach vacation does sound nice, no matter what pushes us there.
The weather in Idaho was a little iffy over the weekend and it's chilly today, but overall we're not buried in piles of snow and we don't have clouds for months at a time. And you are surrounded by friendly co-workers and people who love you. And the Treasure Valley has good salmon and pizza and veggie power bowls and live music, so it could be worse.
So...back to our regular Monday. It'll be all right.