Dear Monday,
I’m really sorry that so many people take their frustration regarding going back to school and work out on you, saying that they hate you. Personally, I don’t think you get the credit you deserve as a day of the week, people tend to overlook the wonderful things that happened on Mondays, like the manufacturing of the very first Hershey’s Kisses in 1907 or the release of C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe—yeah, that was all you, Monday. Let’s be honest though, Saturday and Sunday are a hard act to follow, it’s not your fault you got the short straw when cultures started adopting seven day weeks. I’d like to make a case for you, Monday, a case that you’re really not as bad as everyone seems to think you are.
On Monday mornings across the country, people pull themselves out of bed to head back to work or school after a weekend of, hopefully, fun and relaxation, and they take their resentment and dread out on you, Monday. What’s really funny about that is that it’s been shown that you’re a day of great motivation, in fact you’re the best day to start a diet or quit smoking. Additionally, you’re not even the most stressful or dangerous day of the week, those honors fall on Wednesday and Friday respectfully, and you’re actually the safest day to have a medical procedure done. By all scientific and logical standards, your bad rap is unnecessary and unwarranted, Monday.
However, the point of this letter is not simply to defend your reputation as a decent day, it's also to share some of the reasons that I look forward to seeing you come around every week instead of dreading your arrival. For one thing, you symbolize the return to my mundane school schedule and, unlike many others, I could not be happier about that. Don’t get me wrong, I like your relatives Saturday and Sunday just as much as the next person, but I can only handle so much spontaneity and free time before I start to go a little crazy. You reintroduce me to a world of organization and order at the start of every week, bringing a fresh wave of comfort into my life.
Since you’re the day that sees my return to college, you’re also the day that means I’m reunited with my friends on a regular basis. What’s even better about this is that you’re also a great conversation starter and prompt for self-reflection. Every time you come around, my friends ask me to reflect on my weekend, and I get to share with them all the things that I did over the past two days and how they affected me. Along the same lines, everyone always has such good stories to tell when you’re here; I’ve yet to have a boring experience when you start. You’re fresh, you bring with you a new start to a week that is sure to be filled with interesting experiences and opportunities and you usher out any negative feelings from the past week, allowing for us to start over.
On Monday afternoons, after the first half dozen hours back into weekly work routines, there are those who are wishing Friday would hurry up and get here already, thinking ahead to the weekend and waiting for you to just be gone so they don’t have to deal with you for the next six days. However, there are those of us who look forward to you in the same respect as others look forward to Friday. When the weekend finally arrives for me, I am grateful for its reprise from the week, but I’m also looking forward to seeing you after Sunday leaves, seeing my friends, getting back to work, and feeling organized and accomplished.
Are there reasons to dislike you? Absolutely, but there’s reasons to dislike every day of the week, and in my eyes, you’re not the one who should take the brunt of the punishment for our everyday frustrations. To me, Tuesday is second best, Wednesday is relaxing, Thursday is a little too much fun, Friday is stressful, and the weekend is more sleepy than satisfying, but you’re just the right combination of commitment, anticipation, ease, and productivity. You might not be on everyone’s short like of things they like, but consider this letter a token of my affections for you, my favorite day of the week, because it’s true, Monday, I love you.
