Blue Monday

Hello folks,

Has your return to work after the Christmas holidays been smooth for all of you? I hope so, because now there's a dark day ahead of us, no other than Blue Monday. 

Why the name and what does it mean? Well, as you know form my two entries on colour idioms I, and II, blue is a colour link to sadness and depression. In fact, one of the definitions of blue in the dictionary (other than the obvious definition of colour), is "sad or depressed in spirits". It's very common to hear the sentence "I feel blue today." This connotation has even appeared in songs :

Blue colour is also associated to a certain sense of surprise, hence expressions such as 'once in a blue moon' (very rarely) or 'out of the blue' (all of a sudden).

Now that the meaning of blue is clear, let's analyze its homonym well-known day. Tomorrow is Blue Monday. According to some Dr. Arnall, Blue Monday, which usually takes place on the third Monday of January, is, officially, the most miserable day of the year.  He developed a formula to calculate the bluest day of the year (why on earth would a person do that?) and he included some variables such as weather, the end of the Christmas season, motivational levels and, of course, debt and money, among others. Even New Year's resolutions are considered in his  formula. Here you have his piece of research :

So, what about you? Do you agree with his formula? Do you feel miserable this January? Although it makes much sense to place the bluest day of the year in January, after the indulgences and expenses of the Christmas season and the advent of winter and its dull frosty weather, there are always reasons why one must be happy and  optimistic and January is also time to embark on brand-new projects.

To conclude this post, I'm going to share with you the song "Blue Monday" by New Order. I think is catchy and its rhythm invariably reminds me of this depressing day. Don't be too miserable tomorrow! I'm sure January will soon go by!