– OVER THE MOON –

Everyone with an internet connection has noticed it: today’s Blue Monday. In 2005, British psychologist Cliff Arnall proclaimed this day to be Blue Monday. He thought of a mathematical formula with which he explained that the last Monday of a full week in January is the day on which most people feel miserable. The holidays are over, resolutions have failed, bonuses evaporated, and the days feel cold and short.

I admit, we don’t have too many reasons to bounce home excitedly. So in case you’re sitting on the sofa with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s whilst crying into your cat’s fur: don’t worry, Amayzine knows what to do. Here it goes:

1.   Shopping extensively on net-a-porter.com is never financially sound regardless whether you’re financially fortunate or not. That’s why, today, you should ignore practical matters like red figures and debt collectors, and create the perfect wardrobe and put everything in your basket. Prepare yourself, think of basics and party items, and add everything to your digital basket. Click away when you’ve put together the perfect wardrobe – just like nothing happened.

2.  Take a sofa, a blanket, a pot of tea (or bottle of wine. Preferably the wine), and something fattening to eat (cucumbers don’t contribute to a festive mood). Subsequently, put the final season of Sex And The City on and enjoy 20 episodes of classics like “I fell in Dior” and “Go get our girl.” Yours truly watched these episodes last weekend, and I couldn’t help but tearing up. In a good way though, in a good way.

3. Play your favourite music very loudly, put away your phone, and close the curtains. Collect all your great beauty things, and give yourself an extensive beauty treatment. Shave everything smooth, lots of foaming shower gel, lather yourself from top to bottom with body lotion (I usually use Dove Visible Effects. I’m not getting a euro, so honestly, this product is the best), and also go nuts with the scrubs, peelings or whatever. Fresh, clean, away Blue Monday.

4. Make yourself happy with something decadent you usually wouldn’t buy, and especially not on a Monday evening. Buy a bottle of champagne, order oysters, a very expensive wine, or something else you’d usually only do on a special occasion. Special schmecial, these days scream for irresponsible behaviour.

5. A research (a Dutch one) has shown that planning a journey creates a happiness climax. The test persons said they were happiest when they were preparing their holidays, and oddly enough, not when they just came back from holidays. So go nuts and prepare your holidays on Tripadvisor, Booking.com, or Airbnb and plan your perfect holiday. If science says it works, it works.

6.  You’ve got to be a bit of an animal lover, but many think there’s not much cuter than baby animals.      Open youtube.com, search ‘cute kittens,’ ‘cute baby animals’ and more of such things and “ooh” and “aah” yourself happy. I’m quite a manic kitty lover and this, or this, and this one definitely belong to my favourites. Oh and this one too, actually.

7.  When you got through the day, and it’s finally become time to go to bed then make sure you go to great lengths. Change your sheets, tidy up your bed, put some fresh flowers in your bedroom, and vent the room before going to bed. A clean bed works wonders for your night rest, and that entire Blue Monday is nowhere in sight when you wake up the next day.

These tips are also great on hungover days, moody mornings, broken hearts, or other suffering. That will teach that Arnall!