Blue Monday - Marketing Genius or the Most Depressing Day of the Year?

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere January typically feels like the looooooongest month of the year.

The holiday season is over, the new year has begun, and we are just coming down from the month of December — for many, a month of parties, comradery, and general merriment. We are generous of spirit, in both our time and our finances.

For many, January 1st feels as if a switch has been flipped. All of a sudden there are no more parties and no more celebrating. There is nothing to look forward to, particularly now when travel is restricted.

The brisk, snow-filled wonderland that was December becomes gray, dismal, and frigid January. The daylight hours, although in truth lengthening since the winter solstice, seem to be shorter than ever. The sun is a friend that is not often seen due to overcast skies. The weather will change very little until late March, when hopefully Spring brings warmer temperatures and clearer skies.

Mid-January also welcomes the harsh reality of our December frivolity. Bills start coming in, reminding us that there really isn’t any Santa Claus. Credit card companies and financial institutions don’t care that our child really, really wanted a new Playstation.

This year, add to all of this the continued pandemic, a new Omicron variant, and (where I live) another lockdown.

Boom. Mic drop. You’ve got yourself a recipe for mental health disaster.

Let’s do some very quick math.

According to Wikipedia, as of 2015, 87% of the world’s population lives in the Northern Hemisphere(1). Further, according to Stats Canada, 25% of the Canadian population screened positive for symptoms of depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in spring 2021(2).

If we assume that those figures are accurate and that they hold true throughout the Northern Hemisphere, that means a whopping 1.7 BILLION people are suffering right now (based on a world population of 7.87 billion as at the time of writing(3)).

1.7 BILLION PEOPLE IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE RIGHT NOW ARE STRUGGLING WITH THEIR MENTAL HEALTH.

1.7 BILLION PEOPLE

Let that sink in. That’s five times the population of the USA. It’s 44x the population of Canada!

It’s just mind-blowing!

Blue Monday was a term apparently coined by UK travel company, Sky Travel, and is typically considered to be the third Monday in January(4). They dubbed this day the most depressing day of the year back in 2005.

The nickname stuck. Why? Probably because it is so damn accurate.

There is a reason that Snowbirds fly South for the winter. What’s a Snowbird? In Canada, this name is typically attributed to an individual that spends a large chunk of the winter in a Southern destination — usually Florida, Texas, or Arizona.

It’s the same reason that families pull their kids from school for a week in January or February, and go to a Caribbean destination.

We all want to see the sun, let some Vitamin D soak into our pores, and make the winter feel just a little bit shorter.

Whether or not Blue Monday is a scientific fact or is just a catch-phrase that stuck, the reality is that for many of us this time of year is the most difficult.

Today and every day, remember that if you aren’t one of the 1.7 billion you’re probably talking to one of us.

Be kind. Be supportive. And remember, the sun will be back again.

Until next time………………………………. XO-JGF

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(1-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hemisphere)

(2-https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/210927/dq210927a-eng.htm)

(3-https://www.census.gov/popclock/)

(4-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Monday_(date))