4 totally doable solutions to the Monday blahs
By Paula Sirois
Oh Monday. There aren’t a whole
lot of folk who love Mondays. Kids dread going back to school. The nine to
fivers dread going back to work. It’s a day of having to pay bills or answer
emails you avoided on Friday or sign forms or go to the dentist. When was the
last time you heard someone say ‘Yippee, it’s Monday, can’t wait for today!” Never,
right? Maybe it’s time we did something about it. Instead of a ho-hum day,
followed by a blah dinner and ending with a boring night of nothingness, let’s
spice it up a bit.
1.
Monday
movie-thon: Why not make Monday’s movie night? You were going to veg in
front of the TV anyway. We can all just
pretend it’s an extra weekend day and invite family and friends over for a
movie night fest. Everyone gets a turn to own Monday night. They pick the
movie, the dinner, the snacks and drinks. Move the couches and chairs around to
watch theatre-style, dim the lights, hand out paper bags filled with popcorn
and launch the week with style.
2.
Give and
get: Make Monday’s volunteer night. There are plenty of organizations in
your town that would love your help. Just go online and do a quick search, make
a few phone calls (to guarantee that kids can help out too) and put it on your
calendar. From working at food banks to visiting the elderly at nursing homes
to sorting clothes at the Salvation Army, your family (or friends) will bond,
expand your worldview, feel empowered with self-esteem and bonus -help others- at
the same time. It’s a great way to spend quality time with one another, instill
the value of altruism and start your week off with the warm fuzzies that come from
volunteering.
3.
Game time
anyone? Sports are a great double whammy (fun and healthy) activity and it
doesn’t matter what sport you pick. Maybe have a standing tennis doubles game
every Monday at 7pm, or go out on the lawn for some tag football. If you know
someone is waiting on you to show up and play, it will help make you get
changed and get going. Maybe have a male vs. female Frisbee game or set up a
three-hole golf game in your backyard.
Live sports on TV Monday night?
No problem. If you’re up for fast-paced excitement, try your hand at something
really different. Head to www.1up.me
to get a free app that connects
sports fans to the live event. So
you’re not just sitting on the couch being passive and boring, you’re actually interacting
with the game and other players in real time – and when your team wins,
you win too! It’s one thing to watch a game on TV, (read: boring), it’s quite
another to have your living room full of folk competing against you in real
time and making split second decisions or actions that keep everyone on the
edge of their seats!
4. Dealers choice: Similar to sports night, dealer’s choice is focused
more on the cards.
Gather up your
family and friends for some Poker or 21. Hand out the chips, and shuffle the
cards and offer up pizza and snacks and you’re good to go. Make sure everyone
gets a chance to deal and pick the game. Be open to learning new games and even
print out some rules of ones you’ve never tried before. Dealers choice can be a
roving game where you start at your house this Monday and move to your buddies
next Monday and so on. If you want to
set the mood, pick up some traditional poker hats, green felt boards and real
poker chips. Poker certainly makes Mondays feel more like the weekend and hey,
you may even walk away with a few bucks to boot.
Effective
immediately, Monday is rescued from its hated status and elevated to a new and
exciting home of family, friends and fun.
Paula Sirois is a Florida-based writer who
specializes in all things online, frugal living and family life and can be
reached at paulapla@gmail.com
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