Blue Monday

So apparently, it’s the most depressing day of the year today.

But is it?

The whole idea of a singular day being more depressing than the 364 other days in the year is a bit… ridiculous, don’t you think?

What makes today any different?

Here’s a shock to those that think Blue Monday has some bearing on your mental health.

It doesn’t.

While the entirety of January might be a bit of a downer, simply due to the absence of all that festive cheer we had a month ago, it by no means comes to a point this early in the year. Or at any point during the year.

Realistically, the entire concept of ‘Blue Monday’ comes from (gold star if you guessed it) advertisers. The concept of ‘Blue Monday’ is said to come from Sky Travel, in 2005, when they created a formula based on things like the weather and debts from Christmas to put a pin in the supposed most depressing day of the year. Sky Travel sold holidays off the back of these numbers, and it has since become a day for other companies to crack the advertisement whip.

The formula used was:

In recent years, however, several scientists and campaigns have debunked and ridiculed the numbers behind the day. You might want to read this to find out more.

It’s insulting to think that companies, and even news outlets (we’re looking at you Sun), would trivialise something as important as mental health.

It’s also annoying to think that some people are fooled by it.

So there.

That’s our take on Blue Monday. It’s a farce, and has no bearing on anyone’s mental health at all. To have a day marked as ‘the most *insert emotion* day of the year’ is insultingly non-scientific. There are 7 billion people on this planet.

No one can predict what each one of them is thinking and feeling.

In other words:

*SWEAR WARNING*