There is nothing more relaxing than Friday evenings - when you know that you have the whole weekend ahead of you. However, weekends are never long enough, and you may always feel that your weekend ended even before you knew it.
And with that feeling, sometimes worry creeps in about events and work that loom ahead in the week to come. Often, this feeling takes root as our weekends draw to a close and, at times, lingers throughout the entire span of those two precious days.
Although there is no diagnostic term that can refer to this feeling, people often colloquially call it “Sunday Blues” or “Sunday Scaries”.
“Sunday Depression,” also known as Sunday Scaries to many, is the feeling of helplessness, anxiety, and depression that many people experience on Sundays (especially in the evenings).
There can be many reasons for Sunday Blues, which may include:
The Sunday Evening Hustle
Many people often spend their Sunday evenings preparing for the following week's routine, like planning meals, laundering, and setting up their calendars according to the projects that they are working on. All at once, a plethora of tasks descend upon them, making them feel overwhelmed.
Solution - Instead of Sunday evening, you can plan ahead for the future and complete your pending chores on Friday evening itself, when you are already full of energy. This way, you don't have to worry about them on Sunday evenings.
Taking on Overwhelming Projects
Sometimes, people take up projects that are way more challenging than they ever anticipated, which makes them feel overwhelmed. Work pressure or concerns often ruin the weekends.
Solution - Respect your capacity or bandwidth and learn to prioritize your tasks according to urgency or deadlines. Breaking your tasks into smaller parts can help, and you can also ask your teammates for support.
Learn to say no. Let your teammates know when you have plenty of work so that they don’t keep more tasks or work for you. You can also let them know about your plans or when you will be comfortable working so that they can plan their schedule accordingly. You can consider hiring a virtual assistant or a team of remote assistants to help you with your work. Delegate your tasks to feel in control of all your projects.
Missed Deadlines and the Pile of Tasks Ahead
For some, Sunday serves as a stark reminder of missed deadlines from the week gone by, burdening them with a pile of work to tackle in the days ahead.
Solution - Try to create a to-do list and jot down all the pending or upcoming projects that you need to work on by Friday evening, so that you have a plan of action ready even before the start of the week. Try to adhere to the to-do list to ensure that you are not lagging behind on the pending work.
Besides, there are multiple productivity improvement techniques that you can use to manage your upcoming work or projects, namely:
- The Pomodoro Technique: Take a break after 25 minutes of work and then repeat the process.
- The Eisenhower Matrix: Categorize your work into four categories based on their importance and urgency—Important and urgent (perform them first), not important and urgent (schedule them for later), important and not urgent (delegate to your teammates or a virtual assistant agency), and not important and not urgent (consider eliminating or overlooking them).
- The Eat-the-Frog Technique: Perform or tackle the most challenging tasks at the start of your day to feel a sense of accomplishment and avoid any stress at the end of your day or work hours.
- The One-Minute Rule: If a task is expected to take less than a minute, perform it immediately.
Upcoming Changes or Transitions
Changes or transitions of responsibilities that are about to happen in your workplace. These events may make you think and worry about possible challenges and unexpected problems.
Solution - Focus on the present and occupy yourself with fun activities. We need to understand that sometimes the obligations are in our heads rather than in reality. Let the future unfold what it has in store for us rather than being anxious about it.
Encountering the Unknown
When you are unaware of the challenges or uncertainties that the upcoming week holds for you, you might experience anxiety or fear of the unknown. This feeling is akin to the previous point; however, in this case, it is not tied to any specific upcoming event but rather to something completely unfamiliar and non-existent.
Solution - Try to divert your mind. You can take a walk outdoors, meditate, plan an evening with your friends, or even go out with your date. It is important to realize that being anxious about the upcoming week can never help you in any way. So it's better to relax and deal with the challenges when they come.
Social Isolation
You see all your friends having fun on the weekends and meeting up, cafe hopping, but you are just missing out on the fun because you are not really very fond of going out.
Solution - You can also plan along with them, or if you have social anxiety, you can spend your weekend with some self-care initiatives. For instance, have a small dinner for yourself, relax, meditate, go for long walks, or simply listen to music. You can have fun even without going out or being around people you don't want to be with.
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