How To Start Monday Right

If work is the curse of the drinking class (h/t Oscar Wilde), Monday is that curse’s day of reckoning.

But it doesn’t have to be.

While some people approach their jobs with troubling diligence, plenty of your fellow Americans are drinking, dancing and meditating away their Monday blues as we speak. So ditch that responsible, humdrum morning of shuffling in line for overpriced coffee and inject a dose of euphoria into your often neglected pre-work hours.

Here are a few different ways the country starts the work week right.

Daybreaker
The biggest and baddest pre-dawn health-focused dance party in the business. On the agenda: cutting up the rug to renowned DJs, brass bands and fire dancers. Complimentary fruit juice for all comers. Originally based out of New York, Daybreaker has expanded their unique brand of togetherness to cities all over America (and internationally).

AMC’s Discount Flicks
Whether to cap an epic night out or grab a quick thespian fix on the way to the office, AMC theaters offer cheap tickets on movies starting before noon (prices depend on location; 3D and IMAX will cost more). A recent 10:20 a.m. screening of Tarzan in New York, for example, was going for about $7.80 … or almost half the normal price.

Morning Meditation
The Zen Center of San Francisco offers a comprehensive meditation regimen commencing daily at 5:25 a.m. (your city definitely has something similar).

The November Project
Although the name conjures images of desolate John Le Carre-era Stalin-scapes, the November Project actually holds the title of the original “free” fitness flash mob. The brainchild of a couple Boston guys sitting in a bar in midwinter plucking at their love handles, masochists turn out three times a week at 6:30 a.m. to engage in a rotating workout regimen.

The Original Irish Coffee
Move aside, Starbucks. As long as you’re not handling heavy machinery at 9 a.m., consider ditching your daily latte for something more Emerald Ilse-y: the original Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco. The cordial bartender has clocked over a million coffees during his 20-year tenure (the making of the coffee is a spectacle in its own right), thus surpassing Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000-hour rule many times over.

The Full English Breakfast
Nothing really beats the regal completeness of a Full English, and where else than foodie mecca NYC to consume the best? From the Black Swan to The Breslin, catch some real-time Premier League soccer or unfurl a copy of The Guardian while noshing bacon, eggs, grilled tomatoes, fried mushrooms, toast with butter, sausages and baked beans.