Monday Moanings - January 18, 2016

Blue Monday?

So apparently today has the notoriety of being the most depressing day of the year. Unless of course it's next Monday. There is some disagreement here on which day exactly Blue Monday falls. Most claim it is the third Monday in January -- that would be today --  while others say it is the Monday of the last full week in January -- that would be next Monday, the 25th.
I think I'm getting a headache...

The theory is that late in the first month of the new year, the hype and hoopla machine that propelled us through 6+ weeks of the Christmas/New Year season, has finally run out of gas, AND the credit card bills detailing the excesses of those weeks have arrived.









Ah, but a little research reveals the real truth about Blue Monday. It's origins date back to 2005 when Sky Travel in the UK wanted to drum up January business. They called in a prof at Cardiff University and he developed an equation to calculate the most depressing day of the year.

Interestingly, it turned out to be in January! The idea caught on, along with the remedy: spend more money!

The retail industry loved it and we bought it hook, line and sinker.












Last year, neuroscientist Dean Burnett called a spade a spade: "This claim is incorrect. It is unscientific. It is pseudo scientific. It is uber-scientific." His rant in the Guardian put in no uncertain terms:

"... is it really the most depressing day of the year?
No.
No, no, no.
No. Na. Nein. Non. Nyet. Mhai. Illai. Não. Nee. Ne. Nope. Negatory. Nada. No way, Jose. Nil. Nu. Nie. Bu Dui. Iie. Nem. Nullus. Nej. Neen. And, in case any Klingons are reading this, Ghobe!"

There is no scientific evidence to support a Blue Monday in January, or a Blue Wednesday in October, or any other day of the year.



For those of us in the northern hemisphere, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) does have some credibility in the world of science and medicine. For some of us, this time of year just doesn't bring enough hours of daylight to keep us merry and bright. But have you noticed that both 7am and 5pm are showing a little more light than a few weeks ago? The light is returning!

The sun where you live may not appear as a great fireball in the sky today, but it is still up there and rising a little bit higher each day.

Where there are shadows, there is light...

It's time to smile and kick off into a new week!
May there be enough light for all of us to enjoy.
Have a good one.


©2016 April Hoeller

Monday Moanings - January 19, 2015

Blue Monday?

So apparently today, being the Monday of the last full week in January, has earned the title of  "Blue Monday" the most depressing day of the year. The razzle dazzle of December and optimistic outlooks of New Year's, all the smiles and memories and stories, all the hurry and excitement have died away. The hype and hoopla machine has finally run out of gas AND the credit card bills detailing the excesses of the past month have arrived.



Ah, but a little research reveals the truth about Blue Monday. It's origins date back to 2005 when Sky Travel in the UK wanted to drum up January business. They called in a prof at Cardiff University and he developed an equation to calculate the most depressing day of the year. Interestingly, it turned out to be in January! The idea caught on, along with the remedy: spend more money! The retail industry loved it and we bought it hook, line and sinker. But there is no scientific evidence to support a Blue Monday, or a Blue Wednesday in October, or any other day of the year.



Neuroscientist Dean Burnett calls it what it is, "This claim is incorrect. It is unscientific. It is pseudo scientific. It is uber-scientific." In short a PR stunt. In today's  rant in the Guardian, Burnett froths,

"And here’s the most important bit: is it really the most depressing day of the year?No.
No, no, no.
No. Na. Nein. Non. Nyet. Mhai. Illai. Não. Nee. Ne. Nope. Negatory. Nada. No way, Jose. Nil. Nu. Nie. Bu Dui. Iie. Nem. Nullus. Nej. Neen. And, in case any Klingons are reading this, Ghobe!"

For those of us in the northern hemisphere Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) does have some credibility in the world of science and medicine -  there just isn't enough sunlight to keep some of us merry and bright. But still there is nothing special about this Monday or any Monday in any January. And the first line of defense doesn't cost a cent: get up and go out for a walk in the daylight.





The bottom line for me today:

Blue Monday is a NO SALE!

(even for this occasional Monday curmudgeon) 

Where there are shadows, there is light.

It's time to smile and kick off into a new week!
Have a good one.



©2015 April Hoeller

Thursday, or Thereabouts - February 20, 2014

The Doldrums

The ship of this not quite so ancient mariner has arrived in the doldrums yet again. Unscheduled, unplanned yet always on time, this annual sojourn in the land of idleness always appears on my itinerary in the last weeks of February.

Now one would think that such regularity, such predictability would give rise to highly effective coping strategies, or even better yet a calculated manoeuvre to avoid this navigational hazard, but no. This mariner, vintage, but not ancient (but maybe a tad repetitive?), charts the same course every year: smile and wave at the Candlemas Day lighthouse on Feb. 2, bask in the joy and warmth of Valentine hearts and flowers, and then ...

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, no breath no motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

I flail. I toss and turn. I toil away at the coal pile of self-recrimination until one day, time and place click together and it dawns on me that I've sailed into this sea before. In a guilt-laden lament to my beta reader friend earlier today I wrote that I "was dead in the water" with no writing to offer her as our meeting date loomed. Time and place snapped together. Aha!









I know where I am. I know that soon the winds will pick up and I'll be on my way again under full sail. In the mean time, I'll sit up on deck and befriend the calm, enjoy the stillness and await the freshening breeze.
All is well.

©2014 April Hoeller