Do you suffer from Sunday night blues?
Many of us experience the Sunday blues. The weekend is over before it begins. That feeling which fuels anxiety and deepens depression. At times the thought of the bulk load of a week ahead can leave us feeling lethargic and demotivated. These levels of anxiety can affect your mood and sleep which in turn affects your attention, stress levels, behaviour. The more we neglect organising the small things the further we start to panic. Instead of procrastinating we must get into the habit of arranging the week ahead. Remember these negative experiences haven’t happened yet, and your hostile boss and co-workers aren’t as bad as you think. So why do we get so anxious? It’s time to start setting up priorities.
If we practice mindful techniques it can take the edge off the “Sunday blues”. So here are some ways to stop these invasive thoughts:
Plan ahead and prepare for your Monday morning by taking all the new information, developments and tasks and putting them down on paper. Seeing this list in front of you takes it out of your head. Think of it like writing a short to do list on Sunday for your own peace of mind. Organise your appointments, meetings and presentations in one section and leave another section for errands and non-work related chores. Your to do list doesn’t need to be exhausting but just enough to polish the details. Schedule fun activities and self-care time during week and avoid planning things you dread.
Get more sleep and regulate your bedtime routine. It’s tough when you’re tossing and turning thinking about the next morning but there are several small things that hinder the process of you drifting off. Get off your computer, work phone or even your personal phone. The blue light emitted from these screens disrupts our natural sleeping patterns. So set boundaries on how often you check emails or how late you stay up working on that presentation. Another note on caring for our bodies is watching our intake of alcohol. While that glass of wine after work may be a nice short term fix, once it wears off the negative feelings will intensify.
It may also be time to consider a change. If the job isn’t just giving you a minor anxiety but more of a massive feeling of dread then you may want to move on. As cliché as it sounds you would rather take a job that fulfils you. One that gets you excited about Monday even though it pays less than one which pays well but is unfulfilling and creates massive discomfort. It is time for you to get excited. Plan a lunch out or something after work. You must silence that inner critic and have positive thoughts. The way we start our mornings will strongly influence how we feel for that day. It is time to challenge that negative thought and use our imaginations for good not bad. Even if it is a small change like putting the phone down it is still a step in the right direction for mental well being and a step closer to dissolving those Sunday night blues.