Monday.
A glorious new day. A beautiful new beginning. A new promise. A possibility of a new life.
I won’t lie to you, that I don’t approach my Monday’s with a little bit of pragmatic caution, or my Friday’s with a little bit of hopeful optimism. I admit that I am as susceptible as anyone else, to be negative and pessimistic sewer system I’ve grown up in.
It’s easy.
The whole society is just a big waste disposal system. We are lucky to get to navigate it, and try to stay afloat, for as long as we can.
It’s a terrible world out there, they say.
Every newspaper and every television broadcast pontificates the coming of a terrible winter, inevitable conflict, financial ruin, and the latest thing that will inevitably kill you.
People hate Monday’s, but how can you blame them?
They begin each day by waking up their miserable bodies in alarm and grinding out through their morning, so they can show up for work, and go through the motions of efficiency.
They cope by making little, stinging, sarcastic remarks. By rolling their eyes. By complaining. By bitching and whining. They try to uplift their misery by slinging as much human excrement as they can.
And for what?
I’m not really sure.
We all seem to do it. We’ve all done it. We seem destined to continue to do it.
What a waste of a morning. What a waste of a day. What a waste of a life.
Being negative is easy. You just flow with the stream. You don’t resist. You follow blindly, bob up and down, but be prepared to shoulder the burden of the consequences.
Or you can choose to resist.
You can turn off CNN, and let world leaders handle Donald Trump. You can stop reading the daily papers, and let police officers police the streets, and let the firefighters take care of the accidents.
You can turn off the sports radio stations, and not get angry and wrapped up in the argument if Dion Phanuef is truly overpaid, and earning his keep as a top four defender.
You can turn off your television and stop going through people’s storage lockers, listening to them bitch and moan about the perfect wedding dress. You can stop watching people compete for a million dollars, through treasure hunts, and other, seemingly infinite, asinine activities.
You can choose to eat lunch on your own on occasion. Away from the gossip, the complaining, and the stench of misery and failure.
You can surround yourself with good books. You can devour great motivational or educational podcasts. You can listen to inspirational music.
You can choose to spend time with friends who don’t suck the living life out of you, and are genuinely trying to make a difference. They are trying to live meaningful lives, and don’t mind your meaningful company.
You can do a lot to resist, but the question is, do you really want to?
It won’t be easy. It will not happen in one day. It will take persistence. You will experience moments of loneliness. Periods of misunderstanding.
But it will be worth it.
The choice is yours.
Just remember.
You look pretty silly as you trade away five days of the week, for some illusion and blissful anticipation of the weekend.
In the end. You are at least guilty of some terrible math.
