Mondays

You know the expression, "A Case of the Mondays"?



Poor Mondays.  They have earned such a bad reputation over the years, purported to be the worst day of the week, the day work resumes, where fun ends.  Nobody seems to like Mondays. 

Yet, are they really any worse than any other day?  Sure, we like Wednesdays, because they are the "halfway" point of the work week... but if we're honest, we know that we still have two more days of work to come.  And Thursdays? Just awful, because they feel like Fridays, but aren't.  Sunday?  The day before the dreaded day.  How many Sundays have lost their sparkle because someone thought, "man, I have to go back to work tomorrow"? Even Saturdays, the best day, can be a challenge as we rush to do all the things we couldn't get done during the work week. 

What did Monday do, though, to deserve such a reputation?

Do we truly hate our jobs that much?  What a sad commentary on our society that our careers are viewed as the worst part of the week, particularly since we Americans spend a heck of a lot of time working.  In most of the Hispanic cultures, people work to live, not live to work, yet still manage to work with the spirit of "the fiesta" in their hearts. 

I am busy.  (You know that.)  I don't like how busy I am, and I bit off more than I could figuratively chew this year, so I manage, but live a life in a state of perpetually behind.  And it's not my favorite.  I pretty much hate creating online curriculum every weekend, and look forward to the day (in a month!) when I am done with that.  I won't do it again next year, even if it means a paycut.  Grading piles up.  Meetings seem to take forever.

But I love my job, you know?  Because every day I get to hang out with some of tWhe coolest people in the world, I think.  These kids are the face of the future.  They are our next doctors, lawyers, presidents, politicians, heros, visionaries.  When given the chance to show who they are, they shine, and when given the chance to get out of the boxes we stick them in, they reveal that they care about others and the world.  Right now they want to be anything and everything, and they don't think about their future Mondays as they day they have to go back to their dreaded job.  They want their jobs to be something they LOVE.

Why have we lost that?  Even if our job is something that just pays the bills, it probably involves other people, and when there are people around, there is always worth, and joy can always be found.

To Mondays, a great day, I think. 

May we choose to pursue our endeavours today with joy, with passion, with zeal.  Let's not create another generation who thinks "a case of the Mondays" is a bad thing.  Instead, let's change that expression to mean that someone is excited to do what they are doing, that they are doing it with passion, and that they are inspiring others to do the same.

Oh, and to be truthful, what Monday isn't better when it's actually daylight when I leave the house?  What a joy it was to walk out my front door at 6:20, expecting darkness, and being greeted with light?  Oh, how I love Spring and Summer.