This might sound more familiar to you as a feeling that creeps up as you enjoy the lst hours of your weekend. On one side we're getting lost in our screens, laughing away at slapstick comedy or waking up gracefully from our bed to only be bombarded by our brain's ability to laser focus on wories about the week ahead: early mornings, road rage, a project deadline, final exam, not-so-great teachers. THE LIST COULD GO ON…
It's normal to anticipate stressful situations. It's our bodies way of helping us prevent UNPLEASENT SITUATIONS and FEEL PREPARED.
But for an increasing number of us, this mental worry and prep don't only happen on rare, high-stress situations.
THEY HAPPEN TO US EVERY SINGLE WEEK.
If you fall in this bracked, there's more you can do that wish mondays would go away. Using mindfulness and meditation basics, we can reframe how we feel about the start of the workweek and feel less stressed while we're off the clock
Try this free guided meditation by Headspace to help you navigate those anxious thoughts
What causes the Sunday Scaries?
The sunday scaries are feelings of anxiety or dread that happen the day before heading back to work. According to a LinkedIn survey, 80 percent of professionals say they experience the Sunday Scaries, with over 90 percent of Millennials and Gen Z reporting they feel it.
Even with hybrid and remote roles more popular than ever, it’s hard to leave that stress at the workplace. Participants in that same survey also said they get the Sunday Scaries about how to find better work-life balance.
With that insight, it’s easy to see how we might shudder at Sunday work thoughts if we feel like we haven’t maxed out the weekend. Maybe we didn’t chill as much as we had hoped, or we think we should’ve had more fun to justify another week of hard work. Or maybe we think we procrastinated too much, and now we have to fit last week’s chores into this week’s schedule. As time ticks away on the weekend, we might think thoughts like this more frequently and experience the worry that can come along with them.
Even if we did have a fulfilling weekend and don’t have a particularly stressful work week coming up, we can still get hit with the Sunday Scaries if we frequently associate work with stress. The more we think that, the easier it gets for our brains to identify any work thought a sign of tension or anxiety. Then, something kind of incredible happens: we think a work thought and our fight or flight response gets triggered. We experience a real stress reaction to a threat that is only perceived. Nothing’s happened yet. But it feels like we’re in the thick of work stress — at home, on Sunday.
How to beat the Sunday Scaries
Sometimes all it takes is getting out of our head and into the present moment: MEDITATION
We can't stop our thoughts from thinking a certain way but meditation can help us manage our thoughts so we can take more control of the present moment and stress less about the week ahead
How? Let's say there's a meeting you're dreading to attend or class you want to skip badly. Instead of ranting on about the ways we're annoyed about that meeting or talking yourself out of enduring the painful hardship of attending that class, we could simply NOTIC E THE THOUGHT, REFUSE TO RUN WITH IT, AND LET IT GO.
A regular meditation helps us build resilience and awareness so we don't get so stuck in thoughts. Once we notice that thought crop up, we can choose to acknowledge the thought clearly, calmly, and compassionately.
Beating the Sunday Scaries will take practice, especially if we have a bad case of them. We've just got be consistent in the process! HAVE THE THOUGHT, NOTICE THE THOUGHT, AND LET IT GO!
But doubling down on meditation for Sunday Scaries really does help retrain how we think. One study found that Headspace reduces stress in 10 days, and 30 days of Headspace reduced stress by a third. Just five or 10 minutes a day can help us feel more prepared to tackle the challenges of the week ahead more comfortably and confidently.
More tips!
Get a clearer sense of perspective
As we free up space in our mind, previously spent on worrying, we better able to see our options more clearly. We realise we can change certain things that contribute to the Sunday Scaries: Deleting work related apps, silecning notifications. scehduling no-meeting times ad sticking with it, or even practising short mediations in between classes or meetings.
2. Stop negative self-talk
Research shows how we speak to ourselves has a powerful impact on our mental and physical health, including managing stress.
If we experience constant negative self-talk about work, it’s hard to hear anything else. We believe our self-talk and assume how we feel in the moment reflects the way things are — “I feel it, so it must be true.” In reality, that’s not always the case. Our thoughts and feelings don’t need to control our moods or behavior.
When we choose less critical words, we train our brain to stop automatically stressing about it. Practice Sunday self-care.
We can also rewire associations of “Sundays = anxiety” by doing things that make us feel good at the end of the weekend. This way, Sundays become a day we start to cherish or look forward to.
Try out Louise Hay's Affirmations on Youtube!
3. Set an intention
Creating a practical intention on Sundays for the week ahead can help us navigate workplace stressors more effectively. Why? We’re choosing to act a certain way, even though we don’t have to. We’re making a commitment to ourselves, for our sake.
Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe says, “The clearer your intention, the more likely it is to happen and the more likely you are to experience the benefits.”
Try: “This week, I want to listen to others more.” “Starting Monday, I’ll practice patience.” “My aim for this week is to try to take feedback less personally.”
4. Unlearn Multitasking
If we’re determined to live it up on weekends and perform well at work, the best thing we can do to connect with the moment and accomplish more is to stop multitasking. Plenty of research shows that our productivity tanks when we multitask. As little as a three-second distraction can produce significantly worse results.
It’s a hard truth: multitasking is a waste of time. So the next time we have work that needs to be done or downtime that deserves to be enjoyed, try approaching the task mindfully, giving full focus to that one thing for a specific amount of time, with as little distraction as possible. With practice, we might start experiencing a flow state, totally in the zone, immersed in what we’re doing, and working (or relaxing) with a sense of fulfillment.
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