Blue Monday: how to outsmart the January blues

If you’ve been on social media or read a newspaper today, there’s a good chance you’ll have discovered that today is Blue Monday.

Coined in 2005, Blue Monday is widely touted as being the most depressing day of the year.

In recent years, the theory behind Blue Monday has been called pseudoscience by academics.

However, hocus pocus or not, there’s no denying the fact that many people do feel fed up and low during the first month of the year.

So, in this blog, we’re going to look a bit more closely at the original Blue Monday theory and reveal ways you can deal with the downer that this month often brings.

What is Blue Monday?

As mentioned above, Blue Monday is said to be the most depressing day of the year.

It falls on the third Monday of January every year and is said to be brought about by the culmination of several select factors, as described in this equation below…

In the above formula, W=weather, d=debt, D=monthly salary, T=time since Christmas, Q=time since failing our new year's resolutions, M=low motivational levels, and Na=the feeling of a need to take action.

How to beat the blues factor by factor

Weather

Traditional weather reports for the UK are miserable at this time of year. So why not swap your usual weather forecasting app for a more lighthearted version?

What the Forecast and HumorCast both offer an accurate weather forecast alongside a humourous interpretation of that forecast.

You can expect sayings like ‘No Netflix, just chill – it’s cold’ and ‘Is this fedora weather? No, it’s never fedora weather’ to appear alongside the temperature, precipitation, wind and sun readings on these apps.

Alternatively, if you feel like you want to take more control of the weather, head to the website Looking at Something. On this site, you can change the onsite weather from dark and stormy to light and filled with birdsong by scrolling your mouse from the bottom to the top of the screen.

Or, finally, if you are really missing being on holiday, follow these funny BuzzFeed tips for setting up your own fakeation.

Monthly salary

If your bank balance is looking a little shabby after the expense of Christmas, head to the website Neal.fun, where you can pretend to be Bill Gates and spend his money.

You get a budget that reflects the tycoon’s own bank balance and then you get to spend it on whatever you like – from hot tubs to diamond rings.

Of course, in reality, money worries can keep you awake at night and 2020 was an especially difficult year for finances.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be offering guides on the tsoHost blog on subjects that could benefit your bottom line, from how to attract more clients to how to upsell to existing ones. So keep your eyes peeled.

Time since Christmas

You might feel like the joy and festivity of next Christmas will be a long time coming, but it doesn’t have to be. You can halve the time you have to wait by celebrating Christmas in July. Countries in the Southern Hemisphere have been recreating Christmas in July, when temperatures are lower, for decades now. Lately, countries in the northern hemisphere have started to adopt the second celebration, too.

Can’t even wait until July? Send Santa an email any day of the year via the website Email Santa and he’ll get right back to you.

Or simply do as the Sun newspaper reports Dawn Hurd does – don’t stop celebrating Christmas at all.

Time since failing your New Year resolution

It’s no secret that around 80 per cent of New Year resolutions fail. Often, it’s because goals are too unrealistic or too vague.

So why not make some New New Year resolutions today. Make your goals simple and quick to achieve.

For example, unsubscribe from three emails that have been irritating you for months, don’t look at your phone for an hour before you go to bed tonight, commit to learn one new word or fact every day, or subscribe to a random act of kindness generator and see through an act of kindness every week.

Motivational levels

If you’ve not been filled with the usual New Year New You motivation this January, it could help to seek out a little external motivation.

Of course, there are countless books you can read and dozens of Ted talks you can watch on the subject of motivation.

However, if you’ve not got time, head to a motivational quote generator site for an instant pep talk.

The feeling of a need to take action

Have you ever put off pitching to a new client because you were scared of failure? Or delayed showing an existing client a piece of work because you felt it wasn’t quite ready according to your perfectionist standards? Then you’ve been guilty of delaying action.

If you’re feeling like this now, just remember the quote by leading business strategist Tony Robbins: “The only impossible journey is the one you’ll never begin.”

Feeling a bit more positive?

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