Blogger Hannah Brencher shares personal wisdom in her weekly motivational emails

Mondays are hard. Especially as a college student. Waking up to a To-Do list as long as your Philosophy assignment, counting the number of people you have to contact before lunch, struggling to make the first move out of bed, and realizing it is only Monday. This recurring cycle of thoughts that a Monday morning brings can make having a positive attitude very difficult. Luckily, motivational blogger Hannah Brencher has a solution to the dreadful Monday blues.

Hannah Brencher is an author, blogger, motivational speaker and love-letter extraordinaire. Since the start of her career in 2009, Brencher has written hundreds of blog posts on her website, was named as one of the White House’s “Women Working to Do Good,” has given a TED talk on “Love Letters to Strangers,” and has published two books. While her impressive credentials exemplify just how talented she is, her personal blog posts and weekly “Motivational Monday” emails demonstrate her charming disposition and compassionate demeanor.

All other accomplishments aside, Brencher’s weekly Monday emails are quite possibly the aspect of her job which is most highly-praised. These emails are a light of hope in our stress-filled inboxes. Each month, Brencher picks a theme which is tied throughout each email for the month. April’s theme was “Road Work Ahead: Some of the most best stories are the ones that are still in progress.” While each email recounts a specific story in Brencher’s personal life, she has a way with words that allows the overall message to seem deeply personal to each reader. Whether they focus on letting things go, holding on to hope for the future, or anything in between, every email is very easy to relate to and makes the reader feel included in a broader community. Brencher uses experiences from her own life to share wisdom with her fan club of more than 21,000 subscribers.

Often times, the hardest part of Mondays is the looming dread of what is to come, not of what is happening currently. Just as with any difficult time, it is helpful to know that we are not alone. While God can always fill this gap in our lives, it is also reassuring to have a human connection with someone who has gone through the same thing that we might be going through currently. Not only does Brencher touch on the timely issues of today’s society, such as social media and inclusivity in friend groups, she also intertwines religious motifs in each email. She has been known to include Bible verses, personal anecdotes of her relationship with God, and stories of her own faith journey. The vulnerability in her stories — to a fandom of complete strangers — contributes to the dependability and welcomingness of the emails. In each Monday email, she reminds her “friends” (email readers) that they are not alone. She signs each email “Tying you closer than most,” just a small addition that allows her readers to feel a special connection with the blogger they read each Monday.  

This connection, although small and electronic, is often what we need to jumpstart our Monday mornings. Across the globe, Brencher’s motivational Monday emails have spread to college campuses, church prayer groups, family dinner tables, and everything in between. The emails appeal to our innate human desire for affection and attention. Even if we are physically or emotionally lonesome, Brencher reminds us that there is always One greater than us who is on our side.

If you are looking for some motivation on Monday mornings and want to grow in your faith journey with a community of other believers and devotionalists across the globe, it is easy to subscribe to Brencher’s weekly emails. Her funny and personable stories, coupled with the perfect balance of faith-filled reflection in each email make Monday mornings much more tolerable.

Sydney is a freshman in the Holy Cross College-Notre Dame Gateway Program and is hoping to double major in Economics and Spanish. She is a loyal native to the warm climate of Phoenix, Arizona and enjoys all things related to The Office. You can contact her at smissigm@nd.edu.