Learning To Fight The Sunday Scaries

The “Sunday Scaries” are very common

Do you get that uneasy feeling when the weekend is winding down and your mind starts to jump ahead to Monday?

Are you already thinking about the work week ahead and feeling anxious, irritable, or having trouble relaxing or even thinking that the weekend ended too quickly?

If so, let’s shrink Monday into a smaller problem:

Instead of thinking about the whole week, what if you think about 1-2 things you need to do on Monday morning. A short list will make it feel much more manageable than a mental flood of tasks.

Give your Sunday evening a clear ending: this can look like reading, watching your favorite show, cooking, calling a friend, this will give your brain the ability to register it is still the weekend and contains something special just for you.. not just you preparing for work tomorrow

Avoid “productive procrastination” do not spend hours trying to optimize your to-do list or check one more email. This can keep your mind stuck in work mode instead of actually making Monday morning any easier for you.

Set yourself up for an easier morning: packing your bag ahead of time, choosing clothing the night before, making breakfast the night before can all help to remove friction points that exist during the week.

My favorite, protecting your sleep:

If possible, keep your bedtime close to your usual schedule and avoid staying up late to “extend” the weekend since that can make Monday even tougher.

Some tools:

Journal about the worries you are having and if they are chronic is it something specific that you are worried about or is it a general feeling that the weekend is ending?

Recognize that if Sunday scaries are happening every week, is there something deeper going on for you weekly that is adding to your work load? Something that you are dreading? Examples would be your commute, uncertainty at work, maybe coworkers or a particular meeting coming up?

Always make sure to understand the deep root of what is happening not just the symptom that way it can be resolved for you and not masked

Just a reminder:

Be kind to your mind, acknowledge your feelings, practice gratitude but don’t suppress the real feelings you have