How to Make Mondays Better

Once upon a time, I wrote some excellent advice about How to Manage Mondays.

It was good advice, so I still follow that plan.

But today's blog post is not about planning for Mondays. It's about surviving them.

It's not lost on me that I am writing this on a Sunday (around midnight, as the anticipation insomnia ramps up) and publishing it on a Tuesday (once the Monday fog lifts).

Only I am to blame for this feeling. I know NOT TO NAP ON SUNDAYS. I know! Yet, 3:30 happened (and, to be honest, didn't end until 5:30).

I know to prep on Saturday for Monday and plan something lovely for Sunday afternoon instead. 

A walk in the park? Maybe go out for ice cream? A game of Scrabble?

Someone in my Facebook group recommended that I stop sorting my meds - a complicated and detailed process in a home with two medically complicated residents - on Sundays, since it is a chore that I despise, and take it up on Fridays instead. Smart.

Perhaps Sunday evening dinner should be leftovers and the big meal should be on Saturday.

Mostly, though, I really need to change my Mondays themselves. I tend to load up Monday with heavy stuff.

So, in the morning, I plan a light yoga session, followed by coffee while I watch the local news. It means an earlier wake-up, which sucks after Sunday insomnia, but it is the way I often start much-loved Fridays.

At work, I'll change the agenda. Usually, I eat the frog first thing in the morning. But not this time. I'll do the easiest task first.

I packed a yummier lunch than usual. I'll focus on salads and veggies Tuesday through Friday. On Monday, a nice bowl of Chinese noodles with chicken thighs. (Still calorie-reasonable and healthy, since it's homemade, but the cozy belly feel of pasta.)

I will take a break at some point and write in my journal. And I will sip coffee, outdoors, while people watching, at some point.

Changing the little things to add joy and relaxation to my day will suck tomorrow. I'll be tired and cranky and barely get through it. But if I change my Monday routine to things that I look forward to, I'll stop dreading Monday quite so much.

Etcetera.

If you enjoy what you read at Giftie Etcetera, please share on social media. Click here to join the Giftie Etcetera Facebook group.