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I feel sorry for Monday. He’s been the brunt of too many comic strips and comments to number. Everyone seems to dread or even hate him. We expect people to drag a bit or be blue on this first day of the traditional work week.
While I am far from a hedonist, if something isn’t fun, chances are I will try to get out of it or avoid it. Mondays used to be that way for me. Back when I taught music full-time, Monday afternoon was lesson day for five of my siblings. Now, while teaching is one of my favorite things to do, teaching one’s brothers and sisters is a challenge no matter how good of friends you are. I didn’t like the person I became during those three hours, and I’m sure they didn’t either.
So I changed Monday.
Monday didn’t go anywhere, but I determined to make him a day I loved. So after a nice workout at the gym (and often a quick trip to the tanning salon—horrors!), I’d clean up and go to Starbucks for a Venti two-pump Raspberry Mocha, extra hot.
I’m pretty sure Starbucks is responsible for the fact that my family and I are still friends over ten years later. Do you have any idea what that amount of caffeine does to a (then) skinny girl with a hyper metabolism? There were probably days when I sounded like the guy giving you the fine print in a radio ad.
Fast forward about five or so years. I’m back to hating Monday. Well, not hating—it’s just that I dragged a little. Monday’s meant an office workday for me and, being a people person, that was a pretty lonely day. Plus, I knew I could be getting more done in less time if I just had a plan.
So I changed Monday. Again.
A new friend (also a small-business owner) and I began meeting in the Borders Café at 9am for coffee and a weekly planning session. We’d pull out our agendas and make our lists of things to do and people to call, all while chatting about the previous week. We challenged each other and encouraged each other. And I loved Monday.
Between marrying and moving and then the sad, sad day when Borders closed it’s doors, Monday again returned to hum-drum. My Monday friend and I now live an hour apart, so my Monday’s are back at Starbucks, sipping my coffee and charting my week in a comfy chair in front of the fire. While it’s certainly not home like Borders was, and is a bit lonely without Laurie, it works. It makes me happy. And I love Monday.
Maya Angelou once said, ‘If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.’
While I haven’t completely succeeded in following her advice, my Monday baby steps give me hope. I’m growing. It feels good.
A book I’m reading quotes Alfred Souza: “For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin—real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”
I want to live life fully. So I’m committed changing what I can and embracing what I can’t. How about you?
At my Monday friend Laurie’s wedding in 2012
