BEDN - Monday Love

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In general I have to confess that I don't particularly like Mondays. If I dig deep into my subconscious I sure my hatred mild dislike of Mondays is linked to my childhood obsession with Garfield and his clear disdain for this particular day (I mean...the little fuzzball even had a whole book dedicated to his hatred of Mondays)...

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But if I put my grumpy inner-Garfield to one side I kind of like the idea that Mondays should be seen as a fresh start - a time to try something new or approach an old problem in a new way. Having this as a blogging prompt for today inspired to try a few new things today and I thought I'd share in case they help spread the Monday love...

1. Buy a new piece of stationery - I appreciate this is probably a more positive step for people like me who are stationery obsessed, but stick with me on this one any bizarre people out there who don't drool over a shiny new pen. Today I bought a lovely new notebook to start writing out some of my work notes in. It felt like an automatic fresh start  
2. Take some time for some planning - Whatever your current commitments in life, a little bit of time out at the beginning of the week to plan next steps/ a schedule for the week can help it seem a bit less overwhelming. And if you have a shiny new notebook to write it out in? Bonus.
3. Do at least one thing that will make you smile - It's really easy to get sucked into the negative vacuum of a bad Monday - so taking some time out to call a friend, watch a favourite TV programme or read a chapter of a book can help shake that off and put it into perspective. Do something for you or a loved one that makes you happy, just because you can.  
4. Write a list of good things that are going to happen this week - I'm a massive fan of to-do lists but my Monday to-do list can be kind of terrifying. To combat this I'm made a seperate list of some of the nicer things I plan to do this week - go to the gym, start my Christmas crafting, seeing family. It's really helped me to balance the bad with the good and stopped that total feeling of being overwhlmed (it's also a wonderful excuse to buy your favourite indulgence just because..you know...buying it is a good thing you're going to do this week)
5. Be mindful - I've started using Headspace to learn mindfulness techniques and oh my god the positive impact it's having is huge. So it you feel yourself getting into a Monday panic take a deep breath (or 10) and spend a few minutes on calming your mind. Headspace is fab, but there are loads of online guides/ books and apps to support in learning the techniques.

Although Mondays can sometimes be a bit difficult to deal with, working out a little strategy for getting through them with a smile can really help....and it'll be Friday before you know it!

 Now go kick Monday's arse!