Despite the freezing temperatures outside, it’s time to wave goodbye to the January blues as psychologists declare today to be the happiest Monday of the year.
Falling just two weeks after ‘Blue Monday’, the most depressing day of the year, experts claim today is the first day we begin to feel invigorated having finally shaken off the festive hangover.
For many, this is down to the arrival of the long-awaited first pay cheque of the year while others are feeling celebratory after booking their summer holiday.
After weeks of enduring the cold, dark winter days and scraping by to make ends meet after the Christmas spending frenzy, most of us finally see a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of mood as well as money.
Dr David Holmes, acclaimed senior psychologist at Manchester Metropolitan University said:
“This is a day when we feel particularly happy because the financial excesses of Christmas means that January is a particularly difficult and long month for most of us cash-wise and the first salary payday of the year hugely reduces the stress of that long wait to reinvigorate our finances.
“That first payday comes just two days before what is traditionally the busiest holiday-booking weekend of the year. That’s two major injections of stress-busters in just three-days.
“We all go into work on that Monday – January 30 – with renewed vigour, buoyed by the excitement of having money in the bank again and having one of the major family events of the year – the annual summer holiday – to look forward to.”
According to Holmes, today is the most significant of 11 happy days we will all experience this year. We're hoping this is a gross underestimation, given there are 365 days in the year.
Here are his predictions for the Happiest Days Of The Year 2012...