The #MPOWERment Blog
F U Blue Monday
In case you weren’t aware, and I am hoping that you’re not, today is “pop-culturally” known as Blue Monday. Why do I wish you are not aware of this day?
- The day is bunk.
- The idea behind the day is not bunk and I hope you don’t feel the bad feels more than good feels.
After some deets on Blue Monday there is a mixed medley of mental health music that I hope you use to get you through your Blue Monday. Better yet, I hope the playlist gets you through your Blue Monday mental health workout!
Bunk and being a better human
It goes a long way back this whole “havin’ the blues” thing and that saying really doesn’t say much about what ‘it’s’ actually like .1 Blue Monday has several etiologies but most know today because of a PR stunt fabricated by some guy at a company called SkyTravel. The 3rd Monday in January is the apparently the most depressing day of the year according to that guy; That is why today is dubbed as Blue Monday. Truth be told, there is some, well, truth to a different version of Blue Monday. Data does show that suicides tend to happen most on Monday’s.2
Let’s clarify that the idea that the 3rd Monday of January having more suicides due to “having the blues” or even only depression, is a falsehood. Suicidality is far more complex and not just collateral damage of this one mental illness. As reflections occur of the recent holiday’s, and the global to personal experiences of this past year, today can be when a lot piles up that can detriMENTALLY effect even the (outdated categorical) “strongest” of people.
Thankfully, albeit too slowly, stigma surrounding mental health is diminishing and normalizing of not-being-a-dick is coming along in some channels. But, humanity still has a lot (too much) to learn about being human.
So at least for today, please don’t be a dick because this may just be someone’s Blue Monday. And know that dickish behaviours are predominately learned!3-5
Here’s that mish-mash of mental health music for you:
- USS – Yo Hello Hooray
2. Janet Jackson – You
3. Linkin Park – Given Up
4. Em Beihold – Numb Little Bug
5. Logic, Alessia Cara, and Khalid – 1-800-273-8255
6. Eminem – Darkness
7. Marilyn Manson – Lunchbox
8. Our Lady Peace – Clumsy
9. Selena Gomez – My Mind and Me
10. NOFX – Mean People Suck
References
- JACKSON, PAPA CHARLIE, and JAS OBRECHT. Six-String Stylist, Flat-Picking Pioneer. Early Blues: The First Stars of Blues Guitar, University of Minnesota Press, 2015, pp. 21–37. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt17xx5pz.6. Accessed 16 Jan. 2023
- Kim E, Cho SE, Na KS, et al. Blue Monday is real for suicide: A case–control study of 188,601 suicides. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 2018;49(2):393-400. doi:10.1111/sltb.12429
- Kwasnicka D, Dombrowski SU, White M, Sniehotta F. Theoretical explanations for maintenance of behaviour change: a systematic review of behaviour theories. Health Psychol Rev. 2016;10(3):277-296. doi:10.1080/17437199.2016.1151372
- Decety J, Meyer M. From emotion resonance to empathic understanding: a social developmental neuroscience account. Dev Psychopathol. 2008;20(4):1053-1080. doi:10.1017/S0954579408000503
- Decety, J., & Meyer, M. (2008). From emotion resonance to empathic understanding: A social developmental neuroscience account. Development and Psychopathology, 20(4), 1053-1080. doi:10.1017/S0954579408000503