three more days till friday...

Hi!

In our culture, running away from ourselves is our favorite pastime.

We seek refuge in distractions. Pleasure and hope in the arms of another. Relief from a sip from a bottle or a hit from a joint. It’s all in good fun, it’s all for the weekends. But what happens when it’s Monday morning and we’re faced with calendar invites and spreadsheets?

I guess we turn to ourselves. We journal and cry and let go of the expectation that life is supposed to be one big distraction. The hedonic treadmill has stopped working and we’re forced to walk down the long, bumpy road. Full of potholes and hills and ice, but also flat roads and sunsets on the horizon. And maybe we realize the road isn’t bad after all. Instead of it feeling lonely, it feels freeing.

We no longer have the pressure of making life feel like a supercut of highs. It’s a full length, 2 and a half hour extended cut of taking out the trash, accidentally cutting our fingers when cooking, telling ourselves we’ll try harder next time and forgiving ourselves if we don’t. It’s the mundane, it’s the disappointment, it’s the dead of winter and single digit degree days. But the movie also has shots of espresso, tequila, summer nights, and swimming in the ocean when the water feels just right. Suffice to say, we don’t experience the good without the bad.

Monday’s are my reality check day of the week. After a lazy Sunday, pulling myself back to “real life” feels uneasy. On those Mondays that feel particularly hard, I remind myself, albeit begrudgingly, that there’s beauty in a tough Monday. It makes the Friday night glass of wine feel sweeter, the coveted Saturday sleep-ins feel indulgent. I can look forward to these moments while in the thick of a busy day. And if I’m simply not in a good mood, feeling unmotivated and annoyed, reframing the way daily life “should” be makes me less hard on myself as I recalibrate.

And suddenly, by Tuesday I’m back in the swing of things. The spreadsheets and calendar invites don’t seem as daunting. The checklists start to get smaller and there is momentum to keep going. It’s just the way of the road, the highs and lows and the exhaustion of it all. There will be rest soon.

The next time you face a tough Monday, or really any day of the week, I hope you are gentle with yourself. If your mind seeks distraction, take a moment to journal, sit still, or maybe move your body gently. Affirm to yourself that it won’t be like this forever, and that it’s normal to have trouble adjusting sometimes. Remember, the weekend will soon come again.

All my love,
Emily