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For a lot of people. Monday is the worst day of the week. You might know the feeling, you know. Friday feels like freedom. Sunday carries that pit in your stomach dread. And then Monday hits like a wave. But what if Monday could actually be your favorite day? You're listening to relish the podcast for people ready to stop chasing self-improvement and start savoring their lives. If you're tired of the hamster wheel of healing and hungry for more joy, presence, and meaning, you're in the right place. Hello, relish, friends. It's your host, Alyssia, And here on the Relish podcast, my mission is to help you savor your life more on the hard
days and the good ones. And one of the ways I do that here on the relish podcast is by helping you find small mindset shifts that let you savor your life, not just on the easy days, but especially in the moments that feel heavy or even ordinary. So today I want to share one that completely changed my relationship to Mondays and honestly to my whole week. So a few years into my personal growth journey, I started to notice something strange. I wasn't dreading Mondays anymore. In fact, I was looking forward to them. I have always loved
fresh starts. I am inclined toward routine and calendars and yes, even resolutions. And don't worry, I'm going to talk about how I approach resolutions these days soon enough. But somewhere along the way, Mondays became like this built in opportunity to begin again. Now, that was not always the case. So in the past I would be counting down to Friday, try to squeeze every last drop out of the weekend, and then kind of crash into Monday feeling tense and resentful and behind. But mindfulness has taught me something pretty game changing, that any moment is an
opportunity to begin again. It doesn't have to be January 1st. It doesn't have to be the start of the month. It doesn't even have to be a Monday. It could be Wednesday at 8:02 p.m., or it could be right now. Listening to this that said, my brain loves beginnings. It loves clean slate energy and starting fresh. And Mondays became a built in touchpoint for that. You know, it's almost like a system that helped give me a reason or an excuse to start over, begin again, check in, come back to presence. An intentional little blip in awareness, if you will. Some of you might remember that from the episode in week one. So now when Monday rolls
around, I use it as a moment to let go of whatever happened last week. Let go of the wins, the losses, the stresses, the mistakes, and I decide to start fresh. It's not about erasing the past or anything. It's releasing, releasing whatever might be holding me down so that I can meet the week from a place of possibility and curiosity and excitement. And now, instead of waking up thinking, oh no, it's Monday. I've now reconditioned my mind to think, huh? Fresh start. What's possible this week? And because I've been doing this for years now, I
actually don't dread Sundays anymore either. So that mental shift has changed. Kind of the whole texture of my week. It's pretty cool. There actually is something called the Fresh Start effect. And research shows that temporal landmarks like the start of a week or a month or a year, can motivate us to take action by creating this mental separation between our past selves and our present selves. So Mondays can be like one of those built in fresh starts. It's like a chance to release the weight of who you've been and step into what you want to be now, and that is really the heart of
becoming. So you get to choose who you are being in this moment. And Monday can be a cue to make that choice. But this isn't just about Mondays. All right, you can create your own touch points for renewal. It could be, you know, Friday afternoons. It could be the first of every month. Maybe it's the first deep breath you take in the morning. The point isn't when you do it, it's that you give yourself permission to reset, reconnect, and begin again without waiting for the perfect moment. Who knows, maybe the perfect moment is now. It is. So the takeaway is
fresh starts do not need to be reserved for January 1st or even Monday. You can begin again at any time, and that choice alone can transform how you experience your week if you choose to let the touchpoint serve you. So your invitation today to reflect is what is your favorite day of the week? How do you relate to days that you don't look forward to? And could you choose one day or one moment to intentionally Early treat as a fresh start. And if you're listening to this on a Monday, remember whatever happened last week, it's already behind you. This week can be completely
different. And who knows, maybe. Maybe this Monday will be the best one of your entire life. Can you hold that possibility? It is possible. All right. Happy Monday, my friends. Welcome to my favorite day of the week. If this shift resonated with you. Please share it with someone who might need a little bit of a fresh start. Tag me on Social @alyssiasheikh. and connect with me so I can cheer you on. And if you haven't yet, please follow subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes. And if you'd like to support relish, one of the simplest ways is rate is five stars. Leave a short
review so that we can keep spreading the love and rippling out. All right. Thanks so much for being here. And here's to your fresh start.
