Just another malleable Monday

I secretly love Mondays… I know, its sick, who actually loves Mondays? But before you get out the tar and feathers, let me elaborate a bit. See, most weeks Monday serves as my Saturday, only I find Monday is usually more productive than any “real” weekend.

I thoroughly enjoy my real weekends when I get them. I love staying out late in the city, and spending the mornings recovering with good friends over brunch and copious amounts of coffee from any adventures had the previous evening. I love laying around in comfy clothes, exploring new places, trying new restaurants. But I find that having this freedom on Monday (and sometimes Tuesday) often leads to a much more productive “weekend.”

Firstly, I have far less distractions on Mondays. Though I would love to spend the day with friends, our work schedules typically don’t line up, and so while others are busy starting their work week, I get to spend the day playing catch up. Not only do I get to sleep in, I then get to slide into my day, spend a few extra minutes at the gym, linger over my coffee, and I still have time work on projects, write e-mails, clean the bathroom, can run errands, pay bills, write, get organized, make lists ,and do what I need to do to get on track for the week. And it’s sort of silly, but since I have the chance to do all of these tasks on Monday, I am much more motivated the rest of the week. I find that if I get the ball rolling on Monday, the trend continues in everything from making my bed in the mornings, to pushing a little harder at the gym. Sort of like how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, for me my Mondays are crucial. They set the tone for the week, so if I slack on Mondays, there is a really good chance I’m going to lose motivation throughout the rest of the week.

I think some of this stems from my college years. My roommates and I started “fancy Monday” our Junior year because we needed something to motivate us to get out of bed and face the week. We all got up early, took showers, and actually made a conscious effort to dress up a little on Monday mornings. Granted, sometimes fancy Monday just meant that we didn’t wear sweats to class, but most weeks it meant we all left the apartment looking rather dapper, often wearing pearls, and as a result we tricked ourselves into being highly motivated at the beginning of the week. Being dressed up meant we weren’t likely to come home and nap in between classes. Hello world, we put in some effort, and are ready to face the some challenges. Of course, on occasion, fancy Monday had a few mishaps… one in particular resulted in me falling down the stairs in front of a full lecture hall because the heel from my fancy high heel got stuck in one of my pant legs. I smashed my body into a trashcan, and then literally crawled to my seat in the front row… but damn it, at least I looked good while I was on the floor.

Another thing that I find particularly productive about Monday is the lack of people who are out and about. I can typically avoid lines at the grocery store, the gas station, or making returns, because everyone else has done these tasks over the weekend. In fact, I find that when I do have a “real” weekend, I get really frustrated by the abundance of people everywhere, and how long it takes me to do things. If at all possible I avoid going to the grocery store, the liquor store, or any other sort of big retail establishment on the weekend. Though indulging in retail therapy isn’t always as fun when you aren’t with your friends, I find my weekday shopping trips take half the time, and I’m much more likely to spend when I have enough time to browse without feeling overwhelmed by a crowd. Maybe this is just my “country girl at heart” mentality speaking, but crowds of people, and long lines just aren’t my thing!

Perhaps another reason why Mondays are so appealing to me is my nigh-owlish tendencies. Even after a weekend of work, I still stay up late on Sundays, and it is glorious not to have to get up and face the world at 6AM on Monday morning.

Sigh, I know it won’t be like this forever. Sooner or later (sooner if I get into graduate school) I know I’m going to have a job with a less erratic schedule… eventually I’ll be doing the Monday through Friday 9 to 5 thing, my weekends will be real weekends, and I’ll be grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon, and wishing all the “good” classes at the gym weren’t offered in the morning or mid-afternoon time spots. I won’t be able to slide into my week by pushing the snooze twelve times and leisurely enjoying two cups of coffee while I peruse facebook and make a grocery list.

Maybe the main reason why I love Mondays so much is that they are flexible. There are often things I should do, and things that I want to do, but there aren’t many things that I HAVE to do on Mondays. It’s my own pace, my own schedule, my own agenda. Just another malleable Monday.