Opinion: #BlueMonday Is A Load Of Bollocks
There are 7.7 billion people in the world but apparently we're all basically the same person, if you go by social media memes. Every one of us hates Mondays, hasn't got their life together, is overly polite, doesn't want to go out, loves Netflix and is a 'wanting-to-be-spooned insomniac', who craves attention from bae. And we're constantly fighting with said bae about who uses the most bed covers.
And in yet another attempt to pigeonhole us all, social media has decided that today is Blue Monday, the most depressing day of the year. And if you weren't depressed already, you are now because the bloody thing is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I hadn't realised the occasion until I heard it brought up in the news while I was driving to work this morning and as the newsreader explained why it's worst day of the year, I could literally feel my mood slump.
Blue Monday is a nonsense that was invented by a travel company years ago but has somehow become part of the vernacular. It serves no purpose other than to remind people that the weather is shit, they're still overweight from Christmas and they have no money. Why the hell are we paying it any attention?
I was going to write a long piece on the topic but what else is there to say other that it's quite clearly bollocks? It's ludicrous, It's absurd and its flipant regard for mature conversations around mental health is, at best, negligent. Clinical depression is much more complicated than a 'You're sad because of x' diagnosis, and those who are feeling slightly down - as many of us can during this time year - do not benefit from having it shoved down our throats.