Today First Happy Day of 2011
Monday January 31 has been dubbed Happy Monday by experts, who say it will be the happiest day of 2011.
After the post-Christmas anti-climax, weeks of scraping for money following the Christmas spending spree, and the frustration of dark winter days, cold weather, and returning to work, Happy Monday offers us the first and most authentic happy day of the year.
It is the day we finally feel invigorated after the post-Christmas hangover and it comes just three days after most of the country breathes a sigh of relief on receipt of its first pay cheque of the year.
Happy Monday falls just two weeks after Blue Monday, which according to experts was the most depressing day of the year.
It is also no coincidence that Happy Monday falls the day after what holiday companies are predicting will be the busiest holiday booking weekend of the year in the UK, says a leading psychologist.
The same weekend last year was the busiest on record for the travel industry, say luxury outdoor holiday specialists Thomson Al Fresco, and this year the same weekend is expected to be even busier.
Dr David Holmes, acclaimed senior psychologist at Manchester Metropolitan University, believes the day is the most significant of the ten happy days we all experience in a regular year because it is a junction between the first paycheque of the year and the booking of the annual family holiday.
He said: “We each experience an average of 10 major happy days every year but none are happier than January 31, or Happy Monday as it is now being called.
“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, according to major travel companies like Thomson Al Fresco, 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 31 – 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.”
Last year Thomson Al Fresco saw an increase of 56% in bookings on the last weekend of January and they expect this year’s bonanza weekend will be even bigger.
Nick Riggs, managing director of Thomson Al Fresco said: “We are expecting an increase in bookings on last year, which was a record for us on that one weekend. January is traditionally a busy month but this weekend is by far the busiest of the year.”
For the majority of us, the other happiest days of 2011 include:
•Our birthday
•Christmas Day
•May Bank Holiday
•Two August Bank Holidays
•The day we depart on our summer holiday
•March 27 – the day the clocks go forward and we get lighter nights
•Christmas Eve
•Midsummers day (June 21)
“For most of us these are all hugely significant days in our lives every year and give us plenty of reasons to celebrate and feel truly happy,” Dr Holmes added.
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