90,000

The number of hours the average person works in their life

85%

The percentage of full-time workers who hate their jobs

76%

The Percentage of U.S. workers reported at least one symptom of mental health condition.

84%

The percentage of respondents said their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge.

58%

The Percentage of respondents said Monday was their least favorite day.

Greetings 4am Fitness Crew.

It was not supposed to end this way; once the industrialist and the trade unionist reached a truce and hammered out a path forward – a path that (was) optimistically heralded as a win-win; we were supposed to live happily ever after in that occupational utopia. Workers got time off to spend with their families, attend church services, and booze uninterrupted at the local tavern. Wages also increased significantly. For the industrialist, an enthusiastic labor force (who were) thrilled to have more disposable income and more time off – demonstrating their appreciation with skyrocketed productivity. For many American workers, the early to mid-twentieth century ushered in an era of prosperity and leisure that generations before could not remotely conceptualize.

With the promulgation of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, a mandated 40-hour workweek went into effect, and the two-day weekend was implemented nationwide.  Leisure was no longer just for the Captains of Industry but was now enjoyed by their employees. With more free time and disposable income, workers purchased cars traveled, and ate out more often. This economic experiment appeared to trample the argument that capitalism will be negatively impacted, and workers would suffer wage regression or stagnation.  Productivity increased, wages increased, and job satisfaction increased.

While labor and capital agreed on the 40-hour work week and two-day weekend, the reasons they arrived at that juncture were inspired by two distinct and antagonistic value systems – two value systems that co-existed out of naked opportunism – but were bound to clash repeatedly over the definition of fair wages and leisure; a protracted chasm between the insatiable appetite of capital, versus the well-being of those you serve it.

No phenomenon so vividly represents this tension as “Monday Blues.”

Monday Blues is that overwhelming feeling of negativity that overshadows us with the prospect of having to return to work after our weekend respite. You might experience feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and dread, which eviscerate your motivation - stamping out any effort to face “Work- Monday” boldly.

While Monday Blues is not an official clinical disorder (not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition), those of us who have lived under its dread and continue to endure its symptoms, know Monday Blues is real, with identifiable symptoms. I am assuming, that mental health professionals are hesitant to define Monday Blues clinically because its symptoms (lower levels of job satisfaction, higher levels of job stress, and low energy levels) are very much confined to Sunday evening into Monday – as opposed to protracted depression. For more on depression and helpful resources, click here: Depression| MentalHealth.gov.

While I dare not defy the competence of licensed mental health professionals, and even hint that Monday Blues should be categorized in a clinical space, its symptoms have the potential to negatively impact our physical and mental well-being – and is therefore deserving of attention. 

Our occupational wellness space is too integral to both physical and mental well-being to ignore. According to some estimates, the average adult will spend 13 years and two months at work over a lifetime. When we compare the average time we spend at work – 13 years and two months – with the average time we spend socializing over a lifetime - 368 days – we see the imbalanced and oversize impact of this space. If our occupational space is not mindfully and intentionally dealt with, imbalance and toxicity will occur, seeping into every of the other seven areas of our wellness.

From a wellness perspective, weekends are intended to reset and rebalance us through rest, relaxation, rejuvenation, and resiliency. Monday Blues is indicative that we have failed to achieve our weekend objectives.

It is important to get Monday right – to intentionally climb out from under this blanket of predictable gloom. If we start off the week in a funk, it has the potential to cast a dark cloud over the remainder of the week – disrupting our wellness balance and negatively impacting our health and well-being.    

Who is this blog for? Everyone. Employees, employers, entrepreneurs, students – even retirees – might be suffering from Monday Blues Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The facts of life dictate, despite our best efforts, toxicity, and imbalance will happen in every wellness dimension. The goal of this blog is not simply to manage this reality, but to thrive in this reality.

We cannot continue to live our lives like this – a celebratory two-day weekend then the dread of Monday. It is like emotional whiplash. Enough! The word ‘resilience’ comes from the Latin (word) ‘resilio’ which means to ‘bounce back’ or retaliate.

Let us bounce back! Let us retaliate! Let us take back our Mondays and Our Lives with these evidence-based, practical, and empowering Life Coaching solutions. 

You are Deserving

That’s it? You are only worthy of a two-day weekend? Compressed “happiness” (i.e., your two-day weekend) will ALWAYS result in protracted barrenness. When you affirm, that you are deserving of happiness – not as a two-day affair – but rather as a state of being, you will not trade a lifetime of emotional fulfillment for a “weekend fling.”

This is one of the few occasions when impatience is permissible. You cannot afford to wait for others to affirm you. Affirmation is primarily your job. Quite frankly, it is emotionally dangerous to outsource that function. Who giveth can just as easily taketh back.

We are hurt when others disparage and minimize us, proclaiming, “I don’t deserve this,” yet we constantly disrespect ourselves by not rightfully claiming what we are deserving of. Simply put, people often see us how we see ourselves. Do you see yourself as defeated? Is that what you are projecting?  

If you do not view yourself as deserving, you will not be invested and committed to the wellness bounty that is rightfully yours.

There is a difference – a gulf size difference between deserving and self-serving.

Deserving: I am deserving of love. To gratefully gift and gratefully receive.

Self-serving: I am entitled to be in your emotional space. This space serves me.

Deserving: I am deserving of happiness and so is everyone else.

Self-serving: I am “happy because I am stronger, smarter, and better than others. Maybe even richer.

Deserving: I am deserving of a restful, relaxing, and fun weekend. I want my friends, family, and community to be part of this rightful respite.

Self-serving: I am entitled to leisure even at the expense of others.

De-“serve” ALWAYS reaches out to serve others in gratitude for what the universe has benevolently given you. “Self”-serving ALWAYS seeks to serve just one. Self. And even when an act appears to be congenial – don’t be fooled … you guessed it, it was calculatingly self-serving.

Too many of us either do not feel deserving or we depreciate our “deserving” by rushing out to serve. Reflecting on the examples above, you must first embrace your “deserving” before “serving” – you simply cannot give what you do not have.  

Answering the “deserving” question is the first, consequential, and foundational step in taking back your Mondays, your weekends, and your happiness. We accept what we think we are deserving of.  Therefore, it’s necessary to ask yourself whether what you have accepted as deserving is truly serving your best interest. Pause … Reflect …

Affirm:

“I am deserving of happiness.”

“I am deserving of fulfillment – Monday to Monday.”

Be Still. Be Mindful.

Stillness can be defined as shutting out the noise of other voices, and only entertaining your voice and the voices of those who serve your emotional upliftment. You might close your eyes or leave them open. You might label the moment meditation, reflection, or prayer. Whatever you practice, commit to keeping this space emotionally still.

In this moment of mindfulness, you may intentionally reflect on your emotional challenges. Be reassured, that this moment will be marked by the absence of anxiety and self-loathing, and the gentle reassuring presence of mental and verbal affirmations. Uninterrupted stillness. Undisturbed mindfulness - fueled seamlessly by breathing and relaxation exercises (discussed in more depth later).

Embrace this moment where stress and anxiety are locked out. Celebrate this moment of clarity where you can hear your voice uninterrupted. Yes, tranquility reigns here.

Some Evidence-based Meditation and Mindfulness mental health and well-being benefits.(Source: NIH – National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Meditation and Mindfulness: What you need to know)

• Reduced stress, anxiety, and depression

• Lower blood pressure

• Reduced chronic pain symptoms

• Reduced Insomnia and improved sleep quality

• Reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

• Improved the mental health of people living with cancer

• Beneficial to weight loss and managing eating disorders.

I prioritize this unhurried space both Sunday evening and Monday morning to reap the wellness benefits of this emotionally soothing and mood-boosting activity. You should also.

Show Me Your Friends

Friendship is an absolute necessity for our mental health and well-being. We NEED friends. Friends enhance us and bring value to every dimension of wellness. Good friends are as necessary to our social wellness as good nutrition is to our physical health (For more on the Friendship-Mental health connection go to PMID: 28705185).

It always bothers me when we adamantly and sometimes casually dismiss the essentialness of friendship because of a betrayal – but no one stops eating because of food poisoning. Am I being just a little too simplistic and unsympathetic? Maybe, but … friendships are worth the effort, and investment. The joyful lifelong ROIs (Return on Investment) are so worth it. I am so appreciative of my friends who put up with me, forgive me, and love me. Thank you.

Our inherent inclination is to surround ourselves with friends who cater to our emotional comfort. While it’s natural to have friends you feel at ease with, if your comfort zone has become stagnant and complacent - and your friendship circle either ignores this complacency or simply complains about it - your comfort zone has devolved into a retrogression zone.

We often surround ourselves with people who do not define themselves as deserving or others who are simply self-serving. Your friends who do not think they are deserving will never understand why you believe you are deserving and will fill your ambition for a higher emotional purpose with negativity. Your self-serving friends? Well, you will be too exhausted serving and catering to them, or simply too angry because your needs, hopes, and wellness aspirations are constantly ignored or calculatingly undermined.

By surrounding yourself with like-minded deserving friends, you will be in a transparent, supportive, and encouraging environment. An environment that respects and uplifts you, while joyfully unlocking doors of deserving wellness bounty. Do a friendship audit (I referred to it as – friendship audit in our blog – “8 Keys to Unlock your Wellness Wealth” - under “Social Wellness.”) to determine whether you have the necessary friendship resources to complement your efforts in reclaiming your Mondays, both literally and metaphorically.    

Take Back Your Power (Set Boundaries)

Oops, I went there; “… reclaiming your Mondays, literally and metaphorically.” The reality is - you have ceded your power to some entity, individual, or system whose priority is not your health or well-being – Mondays, weekends, or whenever.

Let us be candid, Henry Ford did not embrace the five-day workweek with work-life balance in mind, and I honestly do not believe that thinking has changed. Nothing nefarious here.  You prioritize your holistic health, and “Henry” takes care of the production/profit line. We should not be parking our emotional health in the C-Suite.

The key to taking back “the power” – your physical and mental well-being, is to establish boundaries at work. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines a boundary as “a psychological demarcation that protects the integrity of the individual.” (Source: American Psychological Association/Boundary).

Establishing healthy boundaries at work will not only ensure that the toxicity of work will not spill into your other wellness dimensions – but also has the potential to make your occupational wellness space more balanced and fulfilling.

When you clearly and consistently communicate these boundaries in words and actions, you have begun the functional and emotional process of being captain of your occupational space. This is not insubordination or lack of teamwork; this is you, defining and protecting your “integrity” and wellness within this space; a definite win for self-care.

Boundary Examples for wherever you are on the organizational chart. Everyone is deserving of wellness balance.

• Be committed to productivity during your agreed-upon working hours.

• Do NOT work after your agreed working hours.

• Take your work breaks.

• Practice making your lunch break a mental health break. Rejuvenate.

• After-work events are “work” events. Draw the line.

• Do Not work on weekends unless your profession absolutely demands it.

• Do NOT take work home.

• Do NOT skip your sick days and mental health days.

• When you leave work, please leave work -physically, and emotionally. leave! Do not text and gossip after work - about work. Get a (balanced) life! 

• Communicate clearly what you are willing to do and what you are not willing to do. The work environment (like most social environments) requires flexibility and compromise, be clear upfront where you are willing to be flexible and compromise and where you are not.

Define Mondays

Self-care does not stop on Sunday. The same mindfulness and intentionality you apply to planning your weekends must be strategically expended on defining your Mondays. Be intentional about defining your Mondays – both emotionally and professionally. How? First, infuse your 4am space – or whatever time works for you, with gratitude, meditation … stillness. Reflect on pleasant experiences, enjoy uplifting music, and literature that relaxes and encourages.  Embrace the joy of the moment.

Pace yourself emotionally and physically. Rushing upsets your rhythm and your balance.  Incorporate breathing and relaxation exercises into this space to nourish a sustainable calm.

From this space you will enter your workplace with an aroma of gratitude, tranquility, and unhurried purpose – the whispers will be, “Somebody had a great weekend” – only partially true. “Somebody has also defined their Monday and the week”. Purpose Reclaimed!

I definitely subscribe to “Bare Minimum Mondays” – it ensures an emotionally and mentally safe transition that promotes self-care. It is not about avoiding the responsibilities of the occupational space, but rather the utilization of mindful purpose – intention, attention, and attitude, to facilitate a balanced return to the occupational space. A return that should represent a continuation of our mental and physical well-being, and not a stressful disruption.

Exercise (It’s a mood elevator)

I have been there – and will be there again – down, lost, confused.  Angry. Just a difficult day. Lace up those running shoes and head outdoors. You return an hour later, and nothing has changed – but you have changed. Clarity, optimism, calm – and a certain “I will see this through” – “I will not be defeated!” That is the power of exercise. Exercise builds muscle, burns calories, and elevates your heart rate, but it also elevates your mood and puts you in that deserving empowering space. (Source: PMID: 29765853: The Effects of Acute Exercise on Mood, Cognition, Neurophysiology, and Neurochemical Pathways: A Review, National Library of Medicine.).

Get outdoors, head to the gym, or put on pulsating music and dance the toxicity out and your mood up. Burn calories and emotional toxicity. Elevate your heart rate and elevate your mood. Exercise!

Reclaim your Weekends

We often trade the stress of the work week for the stress of the weekend. That is a perfect recipe not only for Monday Blues – but also Friday Blues. How do you reclaim your weekend?  Plan your weekend. It is not about being overly structured – rather (it is) ensuring that the weekend is joyfully optimized.  Remember you are Deserving. Therefore, ensure that you attend to you first in your planning. Put aside one day or one activity during the weekend, exclusive to you; that will relax, refresh, and rejuvenate you. Put self-care at the center of your weekend.    

“Deserving you” also finds joy in serving and embracing your friends, family, and community. There is yard work, you have volunteered for the community street festival, and shuttling the kids to that ever-increasing list of activities – but there is deserving joy, laughter, recreation, and fulfillment. Hear the kids’ raucous laughter – even though their soccer team is winless this season. Priceless!

Deep Breathing

Deep breathing is a powerful and must-use self-care tool that relaxes, reduces stress, and elevates your mood – bringing together mind and body in harmony, in stillness – in a receptive space to reset emotionally. Do not start your Monday without it.

The benefits of deep breathing to the relaxation of body and mind are widely heralded but (still) worth repeating. Some of these benefits are:

• Enhance feelings of calm and well-being.

• Helps you to be more present and focused.

• Boost physical energy.

• Lowered blood pressure and heart rate.

• Improves digestion.

• Improves sleep

• Helps promote correct posture.

• Lower levels of stress hormones in the blood.

• Reduced lactic acid build-up in the muscle tissue.

• Helps detox the body by getting rid of toxic gases and carbon dioxide.

• Enhanced immune system functioning.  

Breathing exercises are simple, requiring no special equipment or incurring any extra expense. Chances are you are already a practitioner of a preferred method, however, if you are not, I recommend the simple 5-5-5 method.

I often get up from a good night’s sleep burdened. It should not be – but it happens. It is like the anxieties of the day menacingly flashing before me. Why are those realities that (should) exist outside of my 4am sacred space just sitting sinisterly at my bed’s edge? Unnerving. This is why I apply the 5-5-5 breathing technique with prescription instructing discipline.

The 5-5-5 breathing technique triggers my parasympathetic nervous system to calm me down, whether I am in my 4am Sanctuary of Serenity, stuck in traffic and running late for that all-important appointment, or some “nothing burger” that triggers a torrent of anxiety. Apply it anywhere, anytime. No special posture is necessary.

5-5-5 Calming Breathing Exercise

1. Breathe in slowly through your nose for 5 seconds

2. Hold your breath for 5 seconds

3. Exhale slowly through your mouth for 5 seconds

4. Repeat the process 3-5 times (for about one-minute total)

5. Focus on your breath as you do it. Embrace the calmness

Deep breathing is amazingly effective at reducing stress and anxiety. Use deep breathing exercises you are familiar with or use the following: Slowly inhale through your nose for 3-4 seconds, hold your breath for 3-4 seconds, exhale through your mouth, and repeat a few times.

Pause. Before you act or react, breathe.

Other Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques have been proven to be effective responses to the stressors we face on Mondays and every other day. These techniques help us respond competently using our cognitive abilities, instead of an intuitive fight or flight response which can often be ineffective and harmful. The efficacy of these techniques is backed by science and thousands of years of practice. These techniques initiate the body's "relaxation response", which has several benefits, such as reduced heart rate, lower blood pressure, slower breathing, better sleep, and improved digestion.

Some Different Types of Relaxation Techniques (Source: NIH: Relaxation Techniques, “What you need to know” – National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health)

• Progressive Relaxation: Also called progressive muscle relaxation, this technique involves tensing different muscles in your body and then releasing the tension. (Helpful resource: va.gov: Progressive Muscle Relaxation and Progressive Relaxation)

• Autogenic Training: Through a series of mental exercises involving relaxation and ideas you suggest to yourself (autosuggestion), your mind focuses on your body’s experience of relaxation.

• Guided Imagery or “Visualization”: In guided imagery, you picture objects, scenes, or events (that are) associated with relaxation or calmness and attempt to produce a similar feeling in your body.

• Biofeedback-Assisted Relaxation: Through feedback that is usually provided by an electronic device, you learn how to recognize and manage how your body responds. The electronic device lets you see how your heart rate, blood pressure, or muscle tension changes in response to feeling stressed or relaxed.

• Self-Hypnosis: In self-hypnosis programs, people learn to produce a relaxation response when prompted by a phrase or nonverbal cue (called a “suggestion”) of their own.

Sleep Matters

Insufficient sleep leads to the derailment of body systems, leading to increased incidences of cardiovascular morbidity, increased chances of diabetes mellitus, obesity, derailment of cognitive functions, vehicular accidents, and increased accidents at workplace. ~ PubMed Central: The global problem of insufficient sleep and its serious health implications.

It is the weekend; hang out late. Sleep in late. Live it up! But not Sunday night. A surefire way to “invest” in a miserable Monday is inadequate sleep. (Source:  Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Mood Ecological Momentary Assessment Study: PubMed:  PMID: 30916663) Get to bed early Sunday night and be on time for your 4am sacred space, or whatever time you carve out for stillness, reflection, meditation, or prayer.  

Some of the amazing sleep Wellness Benefits for Monday and beyond

(Source: health.gov: Get Enough Sleep: OASH)

• Get sick less often.

• Stay at a healthy weight.

• Lower your risk for serious health problems, like diabetes and heart disease.

• Reduce stress and improve your mood.

• Think more clearly and do better in school and at work.

• Get along better with people.

• Make good decisions and avoid injuries — for example, drowsy drivers cause thousands of car accidents every year.

        Check out our blog on sleep

Consider Professional help

If your Monday Blues is protracted, emotionally debilitating, and distracting it may be time to seek professional help.

• Consult your doctor or licensed therapist

• Consult a Life Coach

• Consult a career counselor

Conclusion

Monday is not the absence of challenges but rather the presence of a deserving you. In this fertility of mindfulness that we are cultivating, we embrace this reality with a realism that places our wellness and its sustaining self-care in every interconnecting dimension of wellness.

Monday is (obviously) a metaphor for what we face in this work-leisure, employer-employee, capital versus labor dynamic. It is not our intention to minimize the harsh realities of what so many must confront on Mondays. We simply offer you workable and empowering solutions to furnish your wellness space.

A mindful space is never a perfect space but rather a deserving space. When we consistently embrace this sense of deserving, our brain’s architecture responds with calm, clarity, and positivity - not only on Mondays or Tuesdays but on any day of the week. 

Lace-up those running, cycling, and walking shoes. Strap into that wheelchair. Slip on those goggles for an early morning swim.  Monday, here we come.  No more fear! No more trepidation! Mindful Boldness!  Deserving Boldness!    

“Monday,” please be assured, that the 4am Fitness Crew is not here to fight you; we are here to redefine and celebrate you. Our mental and physical well-being deserve no less.

At 4am Fitness Crew we offer Life Coaching services that empower you to turn your wellness goals into daily reality. This includes transforming your Mondays into positive and productive days.

Don’t delay, begin your uplifting wellness journey today by signing up for your free consultation at info@4amfitnesscrew.com. Very soon you will be shouting out loud with positivity:

Welcome Monday!!!

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