Put Blue Monday Back in its Box with a Shot of Optimism

The third Monday of January has been dubbed Blue Monday for quite a while now.

If you didn’t know it’s been dubbed the most depressing day of the year by psychologists.

This is because it’s the period of the month when the winter weather is often at its bleakest, the Christmas credit card bills start landing and many resolutions have fallen by the wayside.

Add to that a global pandemic, lockdown and Covid-19 rates at record levels and this year’s version of Blue Monday looks likely to be the worst ever.

But I’m an optimist. Not so much that the glass is half full just that I’m lucky to have a glass in the first place.

And that’s why I believe we can put Blue Monday back in its gloomy box and use it as the date the tide against Covid-19 turns. I think these five things that I’ve learned through my life and business career can help bring back the hope.

1)    Control what you can. We can all play a part in the fight against Covid-19 by following the Government guidelines. Our behaviour is under our control during a time when a lot of things aren’t.

2)    Exercise if you can. During the first lockdown my sanity maintainer was exercise, especially getting out on my road bike. There’s nothing like the endorphin rush from a workout. It reduces stress and clears the mind.

3)    Give support and get support. I’m lucky at home and at work that I have a brilliant ‘team’ around me. I also feel privileged I get to give support to our franchisees. The best way to get through blue Mondays and these next few weeks will be together – so let’s look out for each other.

4)    Use your imagination. Fast forward six months from now and the World will look a lot more like it used to. The vaccines will have been rolled out further, the economy will start motoring again (it always does) and the simple pleasures we’ve all missed will have returned.

5)    Choose your company. Of course some may read my fourth point and dismiss it as blind faith. I’d argue there are encouraging signs around vaccinations and I know enough about the housing market to feel very sure that it will remain strong throughout 2021. We all need to be mindful of who we ‘hang around’ with as their influence rubs off on us. Seek out the positive people not the energy vampires.

With my Head Shepherd hat on (I can’t help but wonder how that would look) I’m really optimistic about the future of EweMove and the ongoing success of our franchisees.

The pandemic proved many things to me. The agility of our business model, the resilience of our franchsiees and the dedication and commitment of our team at EweMove.

So I’ll be sticking two fingers up to Blue Monday this year and might even start the day with some tunes from the Happy Mondays.

Good luck, stay safe and support each other.

Nick