The fourth Monday of January is apparently the 'bluest' - Blue Monday - so look out for 16th (or 23rd!) where it is hardest to leavea warm, comfy bed to go to work you may still love (or hate) but have nothing to motivate you to get up...it's a hard, long road to the next holiday/holiday season or nice weather, and dark nights/mornings haven't quite left us yet - and it's usually cold and wet; and there is Christmas finances to face up to!   The USA has more 'duvet days' this day than any other!    It leads to depression or adds to it if you already suffer, but unlikely to ring in sick these days due to job loss fears, but even so, you might feel worse than usual  - a little more 'down'.    Tips for managing this day can be found on my blog http://clearmindthinking.wordpress.com/category/clear-mind-thinking/

12 Tips for 2012 ....for managing depression on Blue Monday...

1.  Accept you can’t feel great every day!  Even in a New Year... with all your exciting plans for the future ...and potential new opportunities ahead for you and yours!

2. Remember you can’t feel good without feeling bad at times – so tomorrow will be better than today! 

3. Change happens.  Ups and downs amongst them.   This is just one of the downs – but a short lived one – because Tuesday comes and Blue Monday no longer exists (for you or anyone else!)

4. Smile!   It really does work!  NLP (neuro linguistic programming – now our minds and bodies work together) concepts suggest that ‘how we think affects how we behave, how we behave affects how we think and all that affects how we feel’.   So smile – and that should affect your feelings and therefore your behaviour!   If nothing else just try it!

5.  Try something new today!   No. 4 could be the one you do ...or something else.  You can start to plan it now if you like, or just be spontaneous on the day or Sunday before.

6.  Treat yourself!   A cake (unless you’re on a diet now, or you will feel bad on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...), a rest after work, tea out or takeaway (cheap is OK!), a film on TV or cinema to look forward to

7.  Make a booking for later int he week or next week so you have something to look forward to and have achieved one of your goals i.e. to spend more time with family, to relax more, to social more etc

8.  Go for a walk – fresh air, exercise are good for your emotions and well-being. 

A walk in the rain is fun like it was as a child!  

Make new steps in snow (I hope not but ...)

Look up at a blue sky with white clouds blowing over

A blustery day can blow cobwebs away as your mother used to say (my dad in our family!)

9.  Wear your favourite clothes – new dress or top, comfortable shoes or best shoes, high heels rather than flats, take your best bag to show off or your new tie bought for you by your children... the options are endless here (colour, style, size, feelings, materials, memories etc)

10. Do something you enjoy most after work ... or before  if it can make you smile during the day! Make something (food, cards, dressmaking, woodwork, decisions..), gym or running, coffee out with a friend at lunchtime instead of a sandwich at your desk... whatever it is and whenever, savour it, enjoy it and anticipate it!

11. Give someone a genuine compliment and watch their face light up!   Aim to get one back too if you can so your face lights up!   Accept it graciously if you do get one!

12. Write down and send to me your note of something you are grateful for – to start a book of gratitude for the year perhaps!  Or just for the day.    Your family, health, new start, a job, flowers, fresh air, fresh water etc. etc

If you have any other ideas, please share them!  Even if after the day so people can use them next year – or for any period of depression, a down after an up maybe or whenever you need it!   Smile, Be Happy, Survive it or Embrace it.   Blue Monday is just another day – the first day of the rest of your life so enjoy it!