When I come into work on Monday, the day is already crappy because it’s Monday. This isn’t my job’s fault. It’s really no one’s fault but Monday’s. No matter what occupation you hold, even if you’re a stay-at-home mom, even if you’re a Seventh Day Adventist, I bet you hate Mondays. They just suck, no matter who you are.

Sorry, Monday. Don’t be mad at me. I’m just stating the facts. No one wrote a song about a Manic Tuesday, okay? And The Cure never said, “It’s MONDAY, I’m in love…” Hate to break it to you, Monday, but everyone agrees that you’re the worst.

The first thing I do when I sit down at my desk on Monday is check my email and the real estate websites I subscribe to on my Google reader to see if there’s any good industry-related blog fodder. (I’m a copy writer for a real estate website, by the way, in case you didn’t know.) But, because I’m such a news-fiend, I also subscribe to a few local and global news outlets.  You know, just to stay informed.

The problem with letting my Google reader lay dormant over the weekend is that the news section kind of explodes.

Exhibit A:

 

429 news articles? Good grief!

At first, I used to scroll through them really quickly so I could at least read the headlines. But you know what I found out?

Good news rarely makes it to my Google reader. 

“So and so people died in so and so country’s natural disaster…” “So and so number of soldiers can’t go home to see their families this Christmas…” “Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are actually a thing…”

Blah.

By skimming the headlines, even avoiding the actual articles, I was starting out an already crappy day by adding more crap to it.

And so recently I’ve changed my pattern. Now, when Monday rolls around, the first thing I click on in my Google reader is the Mark All As Read button.

Silence. So golden, right?

You see, when you know something is going to crap up your mood, why do it? Why stalk your ex-boyfriend’s Facebook page if you know it’s just going to stress you out? Why try and squeeze into the skinny jeans in the back of your closet that you know you haven’t been able to fit into since high school? Why squeeze the pimple on your face to smitherines when you know it’s going to make you bleed?

Why? Because that’s how we’ve always done it.

We’ve always opened our Google readers on Monday and just accepted that we’re going to be overrun by a tsunami of terrible news. It’s just how we’ve always done things, even if it sucks.

You know what? Doing something just because you’ve always done it is the worst reason to do something. Like. Ever.

Shake it up. Start your week by avoiding bad news. Maybe start your Monday by seeking out good news (or YouTube videos of kittens in lieu), or finally unfriending your ex, or finally cutting those damn skinny jeans into rags because good GOD girl, let them GO already!