Dear LiL: Are you enjoying your Sunday or is the anxiety about returning to work on Monday building?” Signed ~ The Sunday Scaries
Dear The Sunday Scaries:
I love weekends. Who doesn’t? It is a time to be with friends and family and decompress.
And yet sometimes, the excitement and fun of the weekend takes a turn on Sunday, as we know it is the eve of a workweek with all the buzz and grind that comes along with it.
According to a recent article in The Atlantic, this feeling we sometimes get on a Sunday, has a name. Not a formal diagnosis per se, but a colloquial reference to “the Sunday scaries”, “Sunday evening feeling” and “Sunday syndrome”.
I admit, I have on occasion, dreaded the upcoming work week. For me, usually this feeling creeps in if I know that a busy week is coming up – you know, those times when the stars align and it seems like everything all at once needs your immediate attention.
There are some great articles out there that detail coping mechanisms for the “Sunday scaries” – including the attached article posted to Healthline. If you have this type of feeling, I encourage you to review these articles and to seek medical advice if it is affecting you or your functioning.
Here are the top three “coping mechanisms” that I will use if I feel the “Sunday scaries”.
1. Making the most out of the weekend
Whatever it is – getting some fresh air, sleeping in, spending time with friends and family or taking a trip somewhere, I always try to maximize my weekends. We all know that life is too short. Why not maximize your free time.
2. Exercise
I am a runner and I love running. That is my “go to”. When I feel I have the stress of the world on my shoulders, or a mental block, I go for a run and clear my mind. Whatever it was that I found insurmountable, after my run I almost invariably have it sorted.
3. Identify the Cause and Address it.
For me, as noted above I have only felt the “Sunday scaries” when I feel like the workweek ahead is almost too unmanageable to handle. When I identify this, I think about how I can manage it. It might be that I take the weekend and use it to catch up on work. I love my job but I know that with it, there comes varying degrees of stress and workloads and sometimes we cannot get everything done during the work week. It doesn’t last forever and if I can better manage my workweek by sacrificing a weekend here or there, I do it.