Almost 30 years ago, the Boomtown Rats released a song called Don’t Like Mondays… and while Bob Geldof is known these days as a humanitarian, I’m not sure what kind of social benefits this song gave to the world.
Yes, it was suitable for my years of teenage angst. All teens want songs to sing about how terrible life is, right? After all, apparently puberty is so incredibly difficult that we all think the world is about to end if we have a zit on our nose.
I think about that song every time I hear about another school shooting — the ultimate in teen angst gone wrong.
But I have also spent years singing it to myself nearly every Monday morning.
Holy crap! What a lot of negative anti-Monday programming I’ve filled my head with over 30 years! Most of the time I don’t even think about what I’m singing, I just sing “Tell me why I don’t like Mondays” like it’s an acceptable feeling to start out the week with.
“Tell me why I don’t like Mondays, I want to shoot the whole world down…”
Here’s the video if you don’t remember the song — or if you haven’t been plagued with it every Monday morning for years yourself (don’t listen if you’d rather not fall into the trap… it’s a pretty catchy song… or keep reading for my new angle on this):
But now I have a solution…
In my own rendition, I have now changed the lyrics to a more positive spin:
“Tell me why I don’t mind Mondays, I want to love the whole world round…”
See, songs are very powerful. Especially songs that we like and listen to repetitively during our formative teenage years, because those are the songs that form the soundtrack of our lives.
My head is full of Duran Duran, The Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, INXS, The Cure, Platinum Blonde, and more of what they used to call New Wave but now call Retro (well, it isn’t really NEW anymore, so I guess they figured Retro was better than Old Wave).
And unfortunately, for the most part I don’t even think about the lyrics I’m singing until they come out.
Now if affirmations only work when there’s emotion attached to the words, which we now know is the case, then aren’t song lyrics which come tagged with HIGHLY emotional teenage memories just about the most powerful affirmations you can get?
Well… I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say YES!
Luckily the ’80s were full of happy-go-lucky pop-oriented tunes as well as depressing ones. So I think my programming pretty much balanced out.
But since the Boomtown Rats have decided to rent out my mind space every week, then I have to show them who’s boss.
Now of course, the challenge is to make your new lyrics fit the rhythm of the original… without getting too absolutely positively (literally) ridiculous… which is why I’ve settle on “Don’t Mind Mondays“.
The other thing is, your new lyrics need to resonate with you… to either be true, or be something that you want to manifest as true (without being so far-fetched that your ego will jump in and say, “Give me a break!”)
And the truth is, I don’t mind Mondays. Okay, I didn’t much like them when I was working in the corporate world, I have to admit. It felt like an interruption to the weekend time which I spent doing what I loved (while the J.O.B. paid the rent… and some of the bills).
But now — sure, weekends allow me to spend time hanging out and going on adventures with Barry, which I absolutely love… but we do spend time on the weekends working, too.
And Mondays… well, yes, I do put more focus on getting some work done… but we still make sure we’re able to spend some quality time together.
And the bottom line really is, I love what I do. I love writing, I love researching, I love interviewing experts. And when you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. Which means, any day is fun — just with a different combination of activities (which is, of course, the spice of life).
So as long as you’re focused on living a Life Without Limits… go ahead and change the Boomtown Rats lyrics to something you love.
“Tell me why I don’t mind Mondays, I want to groove the whole day down…”
Keep Unwrapping the Mysteries of Life!
