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Talk About a Bad "Case of the Mondays"
1/8W + (D-d)3/8 x TQ / M x NA
Have a bad SAT flashback there? Sorry about that. (But, come on, the occasional flashback can be cool, right?)
Well, we have told you there are studies for all sorts of things. Add this one to the list of inanities, but apparently there is a British scientist (of course he’s British) who, using the equation from above, has figured out that today is the most depressing day of the year. That man is Cliff Arnall, a health psychologist at Cardiff University.
The equation combines seasonal and personal factors to equate the melancholy quotient. (The variables in the formula are weather, debt, monthly salary, time since Christmas, time since failure to quit a bad habit, low motivational levels and the need to take action.) Look, it’s January, you likely just had MLK day off, but what’s next on the holiday calendar? Valentine’s Day? Nobody gets the day off, and let’s face it, that ‘holiday’ is a total beating. So, whatta ya got? Easter is in April, and there are those Cadbury Eggs for which to look forward. So that’s something. But we live in Austin, and we got SXSW coming up. Hundreds of bands, movies, friends in from out of town, parties, conferences, et al. So suck on that calendar cabal that would have us suffer months of agony with nothing to celebrate.
Arnall also points to the dreary weather and the fact that people are struggling with new year’s resolutions and the anxiety of not living up to their hopes and meeting their potential. Look, let’s quit beating ourselves up over everything. We refuse to give in to the pessimism. As Nelson Mandela said in his Inaugural Speech of 1994:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God..Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us' it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presences automatically liberates others."
We like the sound of that.
And hey, we live in Texas. We don’t know from bad weather. At least we don't live in Buffalo. And hell, the NFL team from the rainiest town in the world just made it to the Super Bowl. Maybe the stars are realigning.
So, today we will make a concerted effort to not be depressed. We will have a nice sensible breakfast. Maybe some low-fat yogurt and Grape Nuts. You know, it is the most important meal of the day. Then we’ll focus on getting some work done before lunch, or better yet maybe polish up that resume and take our lunch hour to send it out, praying we finally find a way out of this dead-end job. Wait, that almost sounded negative. But we digress. (Thank goodness our psychologist is back from vacation.)
Then it’s over to the gym after work. Get those endorphins pumping. Take a nice walk around Town Lake. Write a letter (a real paper letter) to that friend we’ve been missing. Hell, we might even write in cursive. After indulging ourselves by spending an hour cooking a giant Italian meal and listening to Mozart, we’ll walk down to Flipnotics, read some inspirational poetry and enjoy a coffee, maybe say hi to a few friends. Oh, no, we won’t give in, Dr. Arnall. Not the proud citizens of Austin, Texas. So add that to your little equation, Beeker McTrippleBeam.
(Then again, he did say that Texas, Florida and California, where the weather is generally better than the rest of the country at this time of year, have a little better chance of avoiding the January 23rd blues. Well said, sir. But, seriously, Florida? O.J. lives there. And California? Well, that’s just too easy a target.)
So, keep your chin up today. Don’t let ‘the man’ or yourself get you down. And if you absolutely must wallow in the depression and feel sorry for yourself or forlorn, thinking the world is against you, just call it ‘ennui.’ It sounds a lot more erudite and sexy. Ah, the beauty & ache of the world, indeed.
And if all else fails, there’s always June 23rd to look forward to, the day Arnall figures to be the happiest day of 2006. Meh. SXSW will save us before that.
What will you do to beat back this year’s gloomiest day of the year?
