Have you just started your day and already want to go back to bed? Nothing could be more normal. Between freezing weather and post-holiday weariness, this month of January seems terribly monotonous. Some will invoke "Blue Monday", the third Monday in January which is said to be the most depressing day of the year, according to a formula created in 2005 by Dr. Cliff Arnall, an English psychologist. Except that we know that this is a marketing hoax. So if you have balls on your feet, it's mainly because it's Monday, and that, like every week, this day is particularly painful.
To discover
- The most beautiful recipes for the holidays: download the Le Figaro Cuisine app
Read alsoFatigue, depression... How do you fill up on vitamin D in winter?
There are several reasons for this: "It could be nostalgia for the pleasant weekend we just had, a feeling of injustice - when we work while some are on holiday - or, in other extreme cases, it is a red flag. This indicates suffering and can be a sign of depression or burnout," says psychologist Boris Charpentier. The latter gives us six tips to escape it.
Make the most of your weekend
If your morale is at its lowest, it may be because you didn't know how to take advantage of the Sunday rest and you will have to remember that next week. To survive Monday, the work is done upstream. The start of the week will inevitably be less chaotic if the weekend has been used as a decompression chamber: "It is essential to take a real break during your weekend to be effective on Monday. The best way to do this is to not think about work. This way, you don't have to check your emails, for example," says the practitioner. In other words, rest and relaxation, thanks to a clever choice of activities that caress our well-being in the direction of the hair.
Plan for the days ahead
Mondays are often busy. "It's better to plan ahead, to avoid scheduling important appointments or very ambitious projects today," advises Boris Charpentier. In order to have a rational vision of the workload you will have to manage, we make a simple to-do list, starting with what we didn't have time to manage the previous week. This will prevent you from procrastinating," adds the psychologist.
Read alsoThe 3 explanations behind procrastination
Visualize the week positively
Rather than projecting ourselves into dramatic scenarios by thinking about how the week will unfold, "we visualize the days that follow positively and we reverse the trend by asking ourselves the right questions." How is this week going to be satisfying?", 'What am I looking forward to?'" explains the psychologist. At the end of the day, refine your optimism by taking stock of what you've done during the day: list three things you're proud of. "It's gratifying to say to yourself, 'I've completed this project,' or 'I've made that phone call I dread,'" says Charpentier.
Schedule extra-professional activities
This schedule will give you new energy from the beginning of the week. Not to mention that it "allows you to keep control of your daily life and to set the pace of your week," adds the psychologist. In order to avoid a boring routine, vary the activities. It can be interesting to plan a sports session, to spend time with family or friends, or simply to create a moment of decompression that contrasts with the dreary habits of the metro-work-sleep.
Identify the benefits of being at work
After all, this first day of the week is also an opportunity to exchange with the people we like in our professional setting, to plan a special lunch break in a place that we appreciate or that comforts us. The psychologist advises to "think about the positive aspects. In order to look on the bright side, ask yourself what you will be able to do today that you don't usually do."
*This article was originally published in 2016 and has been updated.