There was a day at work last week when I was absolutely hating life. You ever have one of those days where you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and, for no clear reason, just hate everyone and everything you come into contact with? That was me.

It reminded me of that scene from Office Space—the one where the guy fights through traffic, gets shocked by the door handle, and then has three different bosses chew him out over a minor mistake. As he’s venting to his friends about how he’s going to lose it, the accountant waddles over and says in a baby voice, “Looks like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.”

Ever since I first saw that scene, I’ve jokingly said that line to coworkers when I’m not feeling it. On this particular day, though, I was definitely the one with the case of the Mondays.

And the worst part? You often can’t even pinpoint what’s wrong. That is, unless you start paying attention.

Tuning In to the Inner Noise

I figured this out a few years ago on another one of my “Mondays.” I was angry and annoyed by everything, and I couldn’t figure out why. So I took a step back and became an observer of my own thoughts. That’s when I realized there are all kinds of thoughts playing in the background, thoughts I wasn’t consciously aware of.

A generally accepted tidbit in psychology is that the thoughts we’re aware of aren’t the only ones running through our brains. Sigmund Freud broke thought into three categories: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious.

(Note: I’m not a psychologist—just a fascinated reader who loves the topic.)

Here’s a quick breakdown:

• Conscious thought: What you’re actively thinking (your inner monologue).
• Preconscious thought: Stuff that’s in the background but can be brought to awareness if you focus—like remembering a phone number (does anyone still do that?) or facts you need to do your job.
• Unconscious thought: The deep reservoir of memories, experiences, and feelings that influence behavior but aren’t directly accessible. These often come from early life and are stored as automatic reactions to the world—a basic survival mechanism.

Want to guess which of these kicks in on your case-of-the-Mondays days? Yep. The good ol’ unconscious mind. Screwing with humanity since the dawn of time.

Feeling the Unconscious

I think of the unconscious like a tape deck that’s always recording and playing in the background. Except it’s not hooked up to the stereo. You can’t hear the tape directly, but you can feel it.

Here’s the thing though: just because you can’t “hear” those unconscious thoughts doesn’t mean you can’t get a sense of what they are. I call it chasing the rabbit down the rabbit hole.

And, hoo boy, when you start doing that, you can uncover some pretty wild stuff about yourself. Often, the roots of your reactions are surprisingly childish. Not in a judgmental way, but literally. These are beliefs formed when your brain wasn’t fully developed and couldn’t process the world properly.

The Rabbit Hole Process

I could write a hundred posts about this (and maybe I will), but let me focus on what I do when I catch myself in a funk and don’t know why.

Step 1: Tune in.
Think of your unconscious mind as the engine and your conscious mind as the dashboard. The engine might be buried under the hood, but the warning lights show up on the dash. In other words, your conscious thoughts often contain big clues about what’s happening underneath.

Step 2: Start asking “why.”
Here’s a simplified example of how that stream of thought might go:

“I’m pretty grumpy this morning. Why is that?
Well, that jackass in the other car cut me off, and every light is red.
Okay, but why is that making me so mad?
It feels unfair. Like the world is against me.
Why does it feel like the world is against me?
Because no matter what I do, I can’t seem to get ahead.
Why do I think that?
I guess I never really fit in. I’ve always felt like an outsider.
Why?
Because I was a nerdy kid who liked comics and books, and I grew up in a country family that thought those things were stupid.
So, what does that say about me?
I guess… I think I’m stupid for liking what I like.”

BAM. There it is—an “I am” statement.

I am stupid.

These “I am” beliefs are the foundation of so much of our inner noise. And yeah, that example may have jumped from traffic to childhood trauma pretty fast, but you get the idea. This is the type of mental thread-pulling you want to do when something feels off.

Why It Matters

The key point is this: those strong emotional reactions—the kind that make you blow your top—aren’t just about what’s happening in the moment. They’re often tied to some deep-seated belief you’ve carried around for a long time. Something like:

• I am stupid.
• I am worthless.
• I am alone.
• I am a loser.

These beliefs are incredibly limiting, but when you expose them, it can be a game-changer. Often, they seem ridiculous once you see them clearly, precisely because of how childish and outdated they are.

And here’s the best part: awareness gives you power.

Once you see the belief, you can challenge it. You can choose a new way to respond. And that’s when things start to shift.

Final Thoughts

So next time you get a case of the Mondays, don’t just write it off. Tune in. Follow the feeling. See where it leads. You might find… nothing. Or you might stumble across one of the most important insights you’ve ever had about yourself.

Either way, it’s worth the look.