Recently, my Instagram feed has been overwhelmed with the ‘wellness girlies’. Their content often contains a ‘Sunday Night Reset’ which includes cleaning, cooking a healthy meal, skincare, and being tucked up in gingham printed bedsheets by 9pm. Oh, and don’t forget the Jo Malone candle burning your problems away. Social media would have us believe that we are all focusing on self care every Sunday evening after having had wholesome plans with friends, gossiping the stress of the week away. After a fun and relaxing weekend, often the last thing on our minds is to ‘reset’ and ensure that we begin Monday morning on top of our entire lives.
Instead of deep cleaning your whole flat, making a detailed plan for the week’s assignments and finishing it all off with a HIIT workout, many, including me, might be facing a different reality. The ‘Sunday Scaries’ are the more likely alternative to a perfect Sunday night self care routine, often causing stress and dread for the week ahead, especially when you have deadlines piling up. After recovering from the week before, it can feel like the weekend runs away from us, leaving the following week looming ahead.
This sense of dread is extremely common, especially within students and those in full time jobs. The good news is that there are a few simple changes that you can implement into your routine to alleviate feelings of stress and anxiety about the week ahead.
First, if concerns are derived from stress about academic work, making a to-do list before you go to sleep on a Sunday night is extremely beneficial. Getting your worries out of your mind and onto paper can not only help your mindset, but it also encourages productivity for Monday and the week ahead. Once you’ve made the list, put it away or pack it into your bag, that way you aren’t looking at it and thinking about it until the following day, allowing for a relaxing night free from academic stress. Following Influencers such as Grace Beverley, who has a compelling method of maintaining productivity, can be a great way to stay motivated with your to do list. By splitting tasks into quick ticks, tasks and projects, Grace has come up with a way to make your to do list achievable and manageable, without things slipping under the radar. Having a model or a structure to follow when planning the week ahead will undoubtedly benefit your productivity and ensure a clear head space.
Secondly, spend less time on Sunday aimlessly looking at social media. Scrolling through what every single one of your followers has been doing all weekend can heighten feelings of comparison and inadequacy. Otherwise known as ‘doom scrolling’, time on Instagram and Tiktok can cause you to procrastinate any essential tasks needed to be done on Sunday to set you up for the week ahead. If – like me – you find reducing social media time really difficult, screen limits on your phone or even apps that block certain platforms, such as Flipd, can be really beneficial.
My next tip might seem obvious yet is often forgotten: Get an early night! Odds are your sleep schedule during the week at university isn’t great at the best of times. So, if Sunday is a quiet night, try to get a good 9-10 hours of rest. It’ll make Monday better – trust me. Although easier said than done, reducing screen time, taking a calming shower, and maybe reading a few pages of your current favourite book can all make sure you get a good night’s sleep. The other end of this spectrum is to not wake up too late on Sunday. The last thing you want is for the entire day to be wasted from sleeping and then by the time it gets to the evening you haven’t managed to tick anything off your to do list. Keeping a sleep schedule that is fairly consistent throughout is one of the best ways to keep your mood and life on track.
The next tip might not sound related to a Sunday evening, but having events to look forward to in the diary can make the upcoming week seem much less daunting. Even if it’s just a coffee with a friend on Monday to break up studying, little treats to yourself can make starting the week much easier. Ensuring that you have social activities which don’t focus on drinking can also be beneficial to your mental health over the winter, making it easier to start the week fresh and deal with the darker evenings. Changing the narrative from anxiety about the week ahead to excitement is a crucial step to beating Sunday stress.
Lastly, routine is your friend during the darkened weeks and especially Sunday evenings. Trying to keep consistent healthy habits every day like eating well, drinking enough water, and getting some exercise can really help with feelings of overwhelm and panic. Despite the temptation of throwing out the Sunday routine and sleeping all day, keeping up a consistent lifestyle can really alleviate anxious end of week feelings.
Following a few of or just one of these tips will hopefully make the end of your week a lot less anxiety-inducing. Just because Sunday marks the end of the weekend, doesn’t mean it needs to be any less enjoyable than a Friday night. Making a few lifestyle changes means that Sunday doesn’t have to be all that scary.