As the darker, shorter days of winter began giving way to the increasingly earlier sunrises, I have taken up early morning walks once again.

I’m not sure what exactly happened to me… I used to enjoy the cold walks, but I honestly chose not to walk on many days when I previously would have enjoyed the outdoor activity. My reason? Simply because it would be “too cold”. Perhaps it’s another thing to chalk up to “getting older”?

Well, as the temps have been at least above freezing, I’ve ventured out generally at least four days a week, and sometimes five. One day of the week I’ve recently begun to consistently get up and out for my walk somewhere around 6:00am is Sunday morning. Sometimes it will be on the back end of the six o’clock hour, but it’s usually some time that begins with a six.

I just love how quiet everything is. It is seriously quiet. Hardly any traffic, and I can’t say I’ve seen any other walkers so far on those days. I love it!

Now Monday… Monday is a completely different story!

This morning, out at about 6:30am, it felt more like noon! There were a half-dozen other people out walking or jogging, some with their animal companion, others with their technological companion (iPod, iPhone) like me. Besides the foot traffic, there were lines of cars going all four directions at the main intersection I cross to get to the quiet path I prefer to traverse. Really! Lines!

I am struck nearly every Monday by how much we are revved up to get as much done at the beginnings of our weeks. Most of my weeks go like this:

• Monday, catch up with any emails that came in over the week, and respond to many more requests (emails/calls/etc) that come in Monday throughout the day.
• Tuesday, receive more work/support requests and follow up on those as well as the ones not completed Monday.
• Wednesday, finish up whatever was begun Monday and Tuesday, generally not much more work comes in throughout the day.
• Thursday, finish up any remaining work/support requests and then get back to larger, longer-term projects which were delayed by the flurry of new requests on Monday and Tuesday.
• Friday and Saturday are free (unless I scheduled a meeting) to work on the longer-term projects as new work/support requests very infrequently come in at all.

Why do we push so hard at the start of the week? Why is everyone rearing to go on Monday morning at 6:30am?

Perhaps even more amusing than the bustle of Mondays, each successive day at the six o’clock hour, the pedestrian and automobile traffic—in the same location—dwindles just a bit more, until reaching the previously mentioned peaceful serenity of Sunday.

You always hear that Mondays are a drag, or that they’re the worst day of the week. I wonder if that’s in part because we come flying out of the gates so hard? Perhaps.

So I hope you had a great Monday, whether you were cranking it up early and pushing hard all day, or if you just resumed a normal, tortoise-paced routine, in no hurry to get this week over with.

I’d like to think I fall more towards the Tortoise. But that might be something better suited for others to remark upon.

Maybe this cycle of frenzy to serenity simply reveals that all is still right with the world, at least on some level.

(Or, maybe it depends on who defines “right” …) 🙂