This, it seems, is Blue Monday, as calculated by Dr Cliff Arnall (sometimes credited with being a researcher/tutor at the University of Cardiff’s Center for Lifelong Learning, although apparently no longer there.)
Wikipedia explains: The date was calculated by using many factors, plugged into a formula. The factors include: weather conditions, debt level (the difference between debt accumulated and our ability to pay), time since Christmas, time since failing our new year’s resolutions, low motivational levels and feeling of a need to take action. This date typically falls on the Monday of the last full week of January.
So it seems today is Blue Monday …
The television ‘news’ reporters got out into the street and asked people for their tips on how to counter the depression they must be feeling. And of course they harvested all sorts of suggestions, such as listen to music, eat comfort food, go for a walk and such like. Well, yes, provided you allow your state to be defined by a journalist or a formula.
Dr. Arnall has also calculated the happiest day of the the year (it’s in June). All very interesting up to a point. My reservations about this sort of stuff are that it’s generalising the issues that some people may be having and using them to tell the entire population that today is the day to be blue. What if your Christmas was fully funded at the time – maybe you don’t even have a credit card? Could be it that your plans for the new year are going rather well?
Right, now, don’t think of a blue daffodil. I said DON’T. You couldn’t stop yourself because the only way of processing the concept of a blue daffodil is to think of one. So when the news media, an academic, or anyone else tell you today’s the day to be blue, it can be tricky to resist and we notice all the aspects of our life that are depressing, even if they were not affecting us before.
What to do? This sort of stuff is really only a media-glorified version of the neighbour who loves to wallow in their own stories of gloom, and then fill up their day by telling the rest of us how bad things are going to be.
Go inside and realise that you are not a generally average person – you are the unique you. Challenge what you hear – how specifically does what you’re being told apply to you? As you’re not average you’ll easily be able to find your own state and get lost in someone else’s reality tunnel. (As an exercise, use the meta model to have some more challenges ready).
Does the promotion of these ideas serve any good purpose? One does come to mind – it can be of help to know we are part of a shared experience. So if you’re reading this and thinking “that’s me! All those factors in the formula are happening for me right now, I wondered why I was feeling down” then you can give yourself a reason. Other then that, it seems to me that we’re better off dealing with our own reality.
