Sunday scaries, also known as Sunday Evening Feeling and Sunday Syndrome, are among the newest modern diseases known to men. Sunday scaries are anticipatory anxiety that gives nervousness about the week ahead. The most common symptoms are:
- restlessness
- irritability
- a vague sense of unease
- stomach issues
- headache
I used to hate Sundays and the dread that came with them. Now I know how to beat the Sunday scaries for once and for all. And I know for a fact that you can beat the Sunday scaries too. Read on and find out for yourself what you can do to expel the weekend anxiety from your life.
Feeling stressed right now? Let’s do something about it.
Walk to your nearest faucet. Turn the water to the coldest setting. Take three deep inhales and slow exhales while you hold your wrists under the freezing water. This will make you feel relaxed instantly. Try it!
You are not alone!
Sunday scaries are a new form of anxiety that hits many of us, including myself. A recent survey found that 80% of working American adults worry about the upcoming week.
Another survey found out that the average time of arrival for Sunday scaries is 3:58 p.m., which is quite close to where mine started. (In my research for this article, I also found out that back-from-holiday-scaries are also a thing these days.
I found these statistics helpful because, for many months, I thought I was the only one in the world who felt horrible on Sundays. I guess not.
When I was young, Sundays were happy days with food, laughter, relaxation and fun things to do in general. I still had the food and laughter, but I felt anxious, thinking about work and feeling stressed out. Why wasn’t I able to experience a relaxed Sunday anymore. This is not how adult life should be, I thought. It bothered me a lot. I needed to make a change.
Is my work the problem?
Additionally, I couldn’t wrap my head around it since I love my company, and I love the work that goes into building it. It’s hard but satisfying work. Was my body giving me signals and cues that I was doing the wrong thing?
NO, it has nothing to do with your work. After combing the internet I found many reports of people loving their jobs, but still, they had Sunday scaries. It’s not the job. It’s an anxiety that comes with the time that we live in.
The pressure to achieve is on, the whole world is competing with each other, and you need to feel productive 24/7. Life is more demanding than ever. So it’s normal that anxiety comes, even for those who love what they do. It’s something that happens to many people that love their jobs.
But the “why” wasn’t so important in the end. What was important for me was finding a fix to end it for all.
These days I have found the fix. And I have applied for the fix for 4 weeks now. No Sunday of the last 4 Sundays has been dreadful. I highly recommend doing the following steps that I describe below.
Planning and reviewing are only a part of the solution
I used to do my original weekly review and planning routine on Sundays. I usually did the full routine the midday on Sundays.
I liked the routine a lot, and it also did alleviate some of the Sunday scaries, but it was never a complete cure. I think it was because Sundays are packed with errands, social life and writing, so having something work-related on the planning just made the day a bit more stressful.
Additionally, I start panicking when the end of the day nears, and I haven’t reviewed my last week yet. The routine sometimes triggered more stress, which is very bad.
And lastly, I wanted my weekends back so I had to figure out a way to take control of my weekends again.
The winning method came in the form of a simple change in my schedule.
Timing is key
The single most important change that made all the difference was doing my weekly review and planning on Fridays instead of Sundays. Sundays are now for me-time, not for work-related things.
I usually quit working around 17:00 – 18:00 on Fridays, and when I do so, I stay at the office 30 minutes longer and do my weekly review and planning routine.
I use the Notion template that I built inside my Personal Wiki/Cockpit to do my weekly review and planning Routine.
The result is that by the end of Friday, or when the weekend starts, I have all my upcoming tasks written down by day for the next week. I know what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.
It’s very freeing and comforting. You know you won’t miss anything.
Be strong and stick with it. Don’t try it once and fail or try it twice and fail. Keep the habit up for multiple weeks and feel the full effect.
Here’s a tip: It’s easy to do the routine at the end of a Friday these days (during corona) since there is minimal social pressure. So how do you stick with it after covid?
Here’s the solution: Do your review and planning routine during your lunch break on Friday. Take some time for yourself and do a shorter version of the review and planning routine (coming out next week).
Concluding
Reviewing your past week and planning your upcoming week does relieve a lot of stress. I’ve experienced this for many many months. But it still did not solve my Sunday scaries.
That was until I started doing my weekly review and planning routine on Fridays instead of Sundays. This simple change made all the difference.
I now feel:
- In charge of my weekend
- more relaxed
- more clear-headed
- and finally, more like I used to feel when I was a child: happy
I’ve been doing the Friday method for four weeks now, and it’s fantastic. I highly recommend you try it out for yourself and go through the review and planning routine yourself.