It's Only Downhill From Here...
Happy Monday! You may not know it, but despite the unusually fierce weather here in the Northeast--where more storm clouds are gathering--January 31st is actually the happiest day of the year. You better get your share of smiles in today too, because you only have about 9 happy days left this year:
Psychologists say a combination of getting the first pay cheque of the year and booking your summer holiday make today the highpoint of the year.
‘We each experience an average of ten major happy days every year but none is happier than January 31, or Happy Monday,’ said Dr David Holmes, senior psychologist at Manchester Metropolitan University.
‘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.’
The last weekend in January was the busiest on record for the travel industry in 2010.
I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't spend my weekend booking summer vacations. If you didn't either, don't worry. The way I see it, there are plenty of other reasons to be happy. Things, after all, could always be worse. You could be Charlie Sheen, for instance, last seen naked in bed, smoking cocaine from a pipe.
So that's one reason to be happy: you're not Charlie Sheen. And here's another: as silly as some of our government's laws are, they will never be as silly as those of Malawi's government.
All things considered then, I think today is going to be a happy one for me. What about you? What reasons do you have to be happy?
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Comments :
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Sure, today might be okay, but, . apparently, tomorrow we'll be all depressed again.
I'm kept happy by the fact I'm able to spend my days with my 2-year-old little guy while his sisters are at school. He's my favorite person to hang out with. Easy-peasy. Funny. Happy to do whatever (puzzle, grocery store, play by himself).
I feel so lucky -- happy! -- that I am able to stay home with him, something I didn't do for my first two children (dad did that while he finished school). We may be dirt poor, but I'm a happy mum.
Jan '11
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Don't need a reason to be happy.
My father said I suffer from The Mulville Curse: which is ... most people feel the need to achieve something commendable and praiseworthy before they're happy with themselves. But Mulvilles are already happy in the first place, so why bother with the rest of it?
Edited on Jan 31, 2011 at 8:39amMay '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
I take comfort in grumpiness. Happy songs always depress the cookies out of you. Hence John Derbyshire's favourite tune. And what does it say that one of the suggested search results on that song title was Obama's SOTU address? We are all doomed, that's what it says.
Jun '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
I'm happy because every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven. But SHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Don't tell the IRS! (Hope I got the link right--I've never tried that before! I guess I'll be happy if it works!)
Jun '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Darn--it didn't work, but it was a link to Bing Crosby.
Dec '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Somebody needs to tell him that most people do not get paid once at the end of the month.
Oct '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Personally, my happiest day of the year is when I can again drive at 5pm without my headlights. It generally coincides with the first day of 10 hours of daylight (rises at 7am, sets at 5pm). That day is fast approaching (oddly enough (or maybe not), it's usually Groundhog Day).
(e.g. winter sucks (can I use that word on Ricochet?))
Dec '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
dittoheadadt: Personally, my happiest day of the year is when I can again drive at 5pm without my headlights. It generally coincides with the first day of 10 hours of daylight (rises at 7am, sets at 5pm). That day is fast approaching (oddly enough (or maybe not), it's usually Groundhog Day).
(e.g. winter sucks (can I use that word on Ricochet?)) · Jan 31 at 9:17am
I do hate the short winter days.
May '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
Bobby McFerrin said it best.
Jun '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
"So that's one reason to be happy: you're not Charlie Sheen."
HAHAHAHA!!!!!
Dec '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
"Things, after all, could always be worse. You could be Charlie Sheen, for instance, last seen naked in bed, smoking cocaine from a pipe."
This strikes me as a classic example of the gender gap in basic worldview. Charlie Sheen was rushed to a hospital in agonizing pain from a hernia... that he got while in a drug and alcohol-fueled romp with four women, including a porn star. There are plenty of American men who take that as a reason to be unhappy that they aren't Charlie Sheen (or at least don't have the entertainment options he has).
Jun '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
It's much more than a gender gap, Stuart. I don't know a single man who would trade places with Charlie Sheen. Not one. I'm sure they exist, but not in my world.
Dec '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
There's an entire cable channel for them: Spike TV.
Beyond that, there are plenty of people who covet Charlie Sheen's fame and $2 million per episode as a sitcom star. They just flatter themselves that they're made of sterner stuff than he is and that all the wealth and notoriety wouldn't cause them to go off the deep end.
Jun '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
But plenty of incredibly wealthy & famous men live virtuous lives. I don't blame the $$. He's simply gross, and would be running with the same types, but just lower-rent versions, if he weren't rich.
Jul '10
Re: It's Only Downhill From Here...
There's going to be an awful lot of "guilty" pet dogs in Malawi.