As I sit, enjoying a laid-back Sunday afternoon, the thought of Monday pops into my head. And there’s my Dementor right there. I’m sure you can relate. For many of us, Mondays have a way of sucking the joy out of a good weekend unlike anything else. Judging by the hundreds of articles dedicated to beating the Monday Blues and #MondayMotivation posts on social media, we need all the help we can get! Over the years, I’ve tried a few methods to manage the feelings of anxiety I have around Mondays and have finally settled on these five that work for me. Try them out. They might help you chase away – or at least tame – your Dementor too.

Lately, I’ve been waging war against an opponent who’s far more tenacious than me. The enemy, in the form of my young daughter, is a skilled fighter, and her weapon of choice is a string of questions, delivered so fast that I can’t even answer one before the next salvo is fired. The bombardment is constant and merciless, with every question starting with a single word that lets me know that I’m in for a long battle. Why?

Like most young children her age, my daughter is obsessed with cartoons. For reasons unknown to me and other tortured parents familiar with the human alarm clock of tiny shoving hands accompanied by piercing voice, early Saturday mornings are the preferred time for watching these animated shows. So I remember clearly the morning my daughter interrupted my sleep with a repeated request to watch Moana. Barely awake, I dragged myself to the lounge and turned on the TV to play the movie for her. I settled on the couch hoping to catch a few more minutes of sleep. Boy, was I wrong.