Blue Monday

It’s interesting the way the mood changes once Christmas is taken out of the equation. The collective ability to look forward to something that mostly evokes feelings of warmth and joy. And then it’s over and we’re left with instability, an unknown future. 

I was recently given some advice to work through my feelings about 2020. I do a lot of reframing, in general. And I’d been telling myself that we are lucky, for so many reasons this year. We have not been affected personally by this virus, as in, we did not get sick in 2020. We did not lose a loved one. We did not lose our jobs. I was given a beautiful healthy baby boy etc. I was told that duality is important however, so rather than push the collective feeling of loss we felt as a community down and down and down, explore the losses I did feel.

So I wrote a list, no matter how bratty, of all the things I missed out on based on the year I thought we were going to have. And it was surprising the things that came up.

So as blue Monday approaches, if you’ve read this far, I think you should make your own list of all the things you missed out on because of these strange circumstances we’re in.  

If you’re doing the opposite, if you’re always living in those feelings, make the opposite list. Make a list of all the good things that happened this year, go through your pictures, you’ll be surprised at what pops up.

And maybe look back, to how our grandparents and great grandparents recovered from the Spanish flu, as looking back always helps me to reframe. 

And collectively, maybe we can get past this universally depressing blue Monday.