This morning, it’s snowing in Montreal—light snow that whips our cheeks but doesn’t prevent us from living our lives. The weather isn’t great, but it’s not terrible either. The sky is white. We work, we take a short walk, we go out for a sandwich at lunchtime, maybe. Our boots are stained with salt. What did we do this weekend? Not much.
After the excitement of the holidays, the recharging and stress of family time, the three different storms that hit us, and Valentine’s Day approaching dangerously fast, we’ve arrived at the saddest Monday of the year. Congratulations, everyone! Today isBlue Monday.
Blue Monday – the blue Monday, the depressing Monday
Blue Monday falls on the third Monday of January every year. This year, it’s January 19, 2026.
The concept of the Monday when everyone is at their most miserable in the year was invented by Dr. Cliff Arnall, a psychologist and former tutor at Cardiff University. Not for a scientific paper, but for an advertising campaign for the television company Sky – for Sky Travel, in 2005. It’s just a marketing ploy to get people to buy plane tickets during one of the slowest months of the year for spending.
There is virtually no scientific basis forBlue Monday, which is rather good news , but if we’re honest, it is still a time of year when we tend to be a little more tired. It’s dark, it’s cold, winter is long—a slight dip in morale is completely justified.
Optimism!
To cheer yourself up today, we have a few recommendations:
- call a friend you miss
- get ready for Valentine’s Day, try a box of heart-shaped chocolates (to make sure they’re good before giving them to your sweetheart)
- buy a notebook like our favorite sad heroine, Bridget Jones,and make a list of things that make us happy
- listen to Blue Monday byNew Order ( on repeat)
- think hard about the 10 minutes of sunshine we’ve gained since January 1, 2026
- Go to the sauna to wake our bodies from their torpor
- Work from a nice café instead of working from home.
Have a great day! Take care!
Montreal Suicide Prevention Center – by text message at 535353, by phone at 866-277-3553, or bychat at suicide.ca