Tuesdays Are So Much Worse Than Mondays

It’s a widely believed cliche that Monday is the worst day of the week, and one which invokes a certain fear when mentioned in passing.

You could be getting ready to go out on a Friday night or enjoying a pub lunch on a Saturday afternoon, but as soon as you hear the dreaded ‘Monday’ getting uttered by someone nearby, that – and only that – is all that occupies your mind.

Nothing significant even needs to be happening on that particular Monday; you could be doing the exact same things as you were on Wednesday, or Thursday, or maybe even Friday. It doesn’t matter though. Just the thought alone sends you into despair.

Why? The Monday Blues are synonymous with the horror of returning to work, the thought of setting your alarm for 7am for the first time in two days, and the dread of facing the rush hour commute.

They’re the reason you feel so unmotivated on your first day back in the office after a chilled weekend, why you struggle to string two sentences together, and why you sit at your desk wishing yourself to be anywhere – literally anywhere – else.

So it’s no wonder it’s considered the bad apple of the group, and the day which we’ve grown up believing we should unquestionably hate. Because, and there’s no two ways about it, it’s an absolute shitter of a day.

But Tuesdays are worse.

Hear me out. Sure, Mondays are God awful – I think I’ve stressed that enough already. But just answer me this: Are they really, unequivocally, without a doubt the worst part of the week?

No. And I’ll tell you why. At least on a Monday, you’re feeling refreshed from your two day break and feeling (mostly) ready for whatever the week throws at you. Even if you’re not though, you’ve at least got an excuse for when you’re perhaps not performing to the best of your ability.

Has your manager told you to buck your ideas up? If the answer’s yes and it’s a Monday, don’t worry about it. You’re clearly still in weekend mode and have plenty of time to get things back on track.

If they’ve pulled you aside for a few stern words and it’s a Tuesday though? That’s a whole different ballpark. No longer do you have the excuse that you’re still trying to work your way back into a routine – this shit’s serious.

UNILAD spoke to Emma Privilege, a Mindset Coach who says motivation is a major factor in why Tuesdays are actually the worse day – because while people often associate Mondays with a fresh start, most of this motivation has gone by the time Tuesday comes round.

She explained:

Monday comes with a promise that they can make anything that they want out of this week, and the actions of the previous week (or weekend) are wiped clean and that’s done.

People spend pretty much from Sunday early afternoon psyching themselves up for this new start, so when they wake on a Monday they feel motivated to get going.

Then comes Tuesday and most motivations has gone, bad habits are creeping in and reality is right there in front of them.

Not only that, but on a Monday you’re eager to tell everyone about that night out you went on, or the incredible food you had at that fancy restaurant, or the episode after episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine you watched (no, I’m not speaking from personal experience).

Then Tuesday happens and you realise you’ve got zilch to contribute to the conversation, apart from a couple of, ‘why am I heres’ and some ‘please someone save me from this hellhole’. Trust me, I know.

Also, it’s literally drilled into us that we should hate Mondays. Here, there, and everywhere we see inspirational social media posts about how to beat the Monday Blues, while complaining to our partner/family/friends that we don’t want Sunday to end.

But here’s the thing: while we’re complaining, we’re simultaneously psyching ourselves up for the day ahead. By saying how much we don’t want Monday to come round, we’re acknowledging that it’s about to and that we’ll soon be in the midst of it.

With Tuesdays, there’s none of that preparation and so we’re often left feeling disjointed and slightly let down that it’s just as bleak as the Monday which just passed – and there’s nothing that can be done about it.

Emma said this contributes to our negative feelings towards Tuesdays:

We spend the whole of Sunday afternoon with Monday morning dread, mentally preparing ourselves for how bad Monday could potentially be. So when it comes down to it being as bad as we think it will be, we are ready for it.

No one realistically mentally prepares themselves for the rest of the week, and so Tuesday is like the short, sharp shock to the system that Monday is over and nothing has changed.

To change this mindset, Emma advises her clients not only to mentally prepare themselves for Monday, but to ‘go beyond’ this. Basically, ask yourself what you need to do in order to be prepared for the following week, and then ensure that you do it.

‘Knowing and understanding why certain days are worse for us than others is the key to successfully changing the way we feel about them,’ Emma explained.

The Mindset Coach went on to say that you can prepare yourself for the week by getting in a morning routine, to make sure Tuesday ‘doesn’t go down like a tone of lead balloons’.

Simple things like getting up when your alarm goes off (instead of snoozing it 10 times), waking up earlier to avoid chaos, or drinking your morning coffee in silence can all go a long way in helping you feel in control of your day, she disclosed.

One person who is trying to beat the Tuesday Blues – if you will – is Chinelo Awa, a cake artist from London who purposefully delivers her Boujee Brownies on a Tuesday for this exact reason.

Chinelo decided to make Tuesday her chosen delivery day due to the general ‘meh-ness’ of the day, which she explains is the only one which doesn’t have a widely recognised societal significance.

Think: Monday Blues, Wednesday hump day, Thirsty Thursday, FriYAY, and then – of course – the weekend. Tuesday, on the other hand, has no such label and therefore fades into insignificance in comparison.

The cake artist’s ‘glitzy and fun’ Boujee Brownies, which can be purchased in a tin of six (cut into 12 triangles) or a tin of 12 (cut into 24 triangles), come in reusable and recyclable tins and are available gluten free. They can also be personalised to add names or messages on each brownie.

Chinelo told UNILAD why she chooses to deliver the treats on Tuesdays:

I chose Tuesday of its ‘meh nature’. If any day needs glitz and fun it’s the day where nothing usually happens.

Outside of that, it coincides nicely with the middle of the week so could act as a great mid week treat. With a shelf life of five days from delivery, they can actually be enjoyed well into the weekend.

Basically, we all need a bit of brownie goodness in our lives this Tuesday – whether you think it’s a shitter of a day or not.

But it’s more than likely you do because according to new research, two-thirds of the 1,043 surveyed hate Tuesday mornings, and one fifth felt their grumpiest and most stressed on Tuesdays (an entire 30 per cent more than any other day of the week).

Not only that, but those polled were 26 per cent more likely to hit snooze on their alarm on a Tuesday than they were on any other day of the week. Who can blame them? Exactly, no one.

So this Tuesday, just make sure to look after yourself – treat yourself to a brownie, or an extra five minutes in bed. Maybe even book yourself in for that haircut you’ve been promising yourself you’re going to get.

Whatever you do, just try to remember that the weekend isn’t really that far away; we just need to get through Wednesday, and Thursday, and then Friday…

Nope. Not today, thanks.

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