Monday Blues

The Monday Blues. We all go through it. We feel it when we return to the routine of the routine of our routine jobs that sustain the routine of the routine of our routine lives. Is there any relief to the futility, dread and drudgery of the Monday Blues, other than enduring until Tuesday?

In my opinion ...

"Monday Blues" is not limited to any one day of the week. The phenomenon stems from allowing ourselves to become jaded with life, viewing activity as just that: activity. Get up. Take the kids to school. Go to the office. Prepare reports. Meet with the boss or clients. Grab a fast-food lunch. Move forward with what was decided in the meetings. Pick up the kids from the sitter's. Dinner. Homework. Kids to bed. Get yourself to bed. Repeat the process tomorrow. Until Friday night, when the cycle breaks for a couple of days. And then Monday comes, and you get the blues all over again.

Is that all there is to life? Somebody shoot me, already! (No, don't. That would make a mess, and I'm not cleaning it up.) If life is lived from activity to activity like that, it's no wonder the Monday Blues is an affliction of pandemic proportion!

My day-job is one that is very routine. I work for a state agency that brings in a significant amount of money, and my job is to make sure that money is accounted for and deposited to the bank. The job has a set daily rhythm to it. In fact, a colleague once commented that someone in my job position could set his watch by the particular task I'm performing. There was once a time when I felt as though I could do parts of my job in my sleep.

It would be so easy for me to have the Monday Blues on my job on a daily basis. But I've learned how to not let the ordinary-ness take over. You see, ordinary tasks have a purpose. Preparing all those bank deposits has the purpose of funding programs associated with my particular agency that are designed to make the quality of life better for millions and millions of people. Waking up to take your children to school teaches them responsibility, and gets them to a venue where they can learn skills that will enable them to have a productive future. The day-job is a means of earning an income so that you can provide for yourself and your family. The purpose behind dinnertime is not for merly feeding your body, but also to connect with the famiy members, hopefully engaging in some sort of meaningful conversation.

Relief from the M.B. affliction will not happen by itself. It takes more than a gimmick or two, more than finding something to laugh at or an "executive toy" for your desk. While there is nothing wrong with those things, they don't make any lasting changes. True relief comes from a paradigm shift, a change in how you view your circumstances. When you see your role as part of a cause that is bigger than yourself, suddenly the mundane becomes a bit more exciting.

Breaking free from M.B. takes intentional effort, but the results are worth it. While you might not be completely cured, you will notice that you don't suffer nearly as much from this chronic disease as you once did. Others will notice a change in you, and may even want to know your "secret." That would really be worth looking forward to every week!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." (Colossians 3:23-24)