What is it that you do to fight off the Sunday scaries?
What is it that you do to fight off the Sunday scaries?
Self care? Chores? Try and fix every problem with your life before you have to go back in less than 24 hours to the job you hate?
Easily the most effective for me has been to develop, review, and/or do one action item off a plan to be able to leave the job and work towards something I want to spend my time working on. Knowing I have a plan, remembering it and seeing that it's a good plan, and taking steps on that is a concrete reminder that the job I hate is temporary and I'm not stuck. That reduces the scaries significantly for me.
Then I also like to clean my place, light a scented candle, and read/watch something to make where I live feel cozy, comforting, and home-y. A reminder that even though the job is shit, I have at least built a home that I come back to. Might call a friend and talk it out too - works on both levels.
What do you do?
Thr scaries start for me once it gets close to noon and the day no longer feels young. The feeling that the day is lost merges with a similar feeling about life, which urges me to do something, anything, with my time.
That's when I usually get a burst of productivity that lasts until it's 5pm. The weekend is gone and it's time to enter self care mode. That usually means good food and entertainment in one form or another. As it gets dark I'll start trying to stop time with booze or a bit of weed as I indulge myself with sports or a movie.
I will often go to bed early so I can be all cozy and in a safe space to go down a wikipedia hole, read a book, listen to music and just veg in general.
Once the day is actually over the scaries usually have disappeared oddly enough.
What's a Sunday scary?
It's a general feeling of dread of the weekend ending and having to go back to work on Monday. Some people let it ruin their Sundays.
Make a long term goal to find your dream job, and dedicate to yourself each weekend until you do. I no longer have Sunday scares.
For my dad we used to call it his "sunday night mood"
My trick is that I enjoy my job.
What if you like your family more than your job? Hustle and bustle of the work/school week (even an enjoyable one) makes it incredibly hard for me to spend time with my family outside of weekends.
Bring your family to work by getting rid of child labor laws! /$
I'd be an awful person if I didn't like my family more than my job. Yeah, I'd love a better split of work and home time, but it is what it is. I'm home by 5.30pm or earlier every weekday, so there's evenings and weekends for family time, but we couldn't do things if I didn't have a job that pays well.
I used to ask the same question as OP, then I discovered this trick (with crap load of luck, I had tried to find a job that I'd enjoy for a long time before I got one).
Work hard. Play hard. I try to do all my chores and tedium in the weekday. Weekends are two-day vacations.
100%
I have a lot of "momentum" mentally, it takes a lot for me to task switch from work to play or from play to work.
Work from home on Monday
Psychedelics, drink, smoke, remind myself i only have 50 years left of my shift on earth, get a vasectomy because it is child abuse to force my offspring to wage slave for less then what it takes to afford basic necessities.
I love my job and usually work weekends.
Drawbacks. I get paid less than tuition. I didn't get renewed so I get to find a new one.
Big slow breakfast. Do one very small thing (e.g. fix the bed). Tick that box. See how you feel. If it motivates you, try ticking another box. If that doesn't take, find the nearest sofa.
I like this a lot, could be a new Sunday trend. Cheers!
I'm blocked at the minute (n Irish term for pretty damn drunk).
So yeah I guess Sunday is the day I try to think the least about anything in an attempt to keep myself sane.
I try to just do stuff I enjoy. I'm a football guy so Sunday is a great day for me this time of year. If I'm not doing that though, I'm spending time with my wife and daughter or tinkering with things that interest me like emulation.
Overall I make it my day and try not to worry about what is happening tomorrow. I will say the thing that really puts it into perspective for me is that I left a job earlier in the year that was unhealthy. I was working overnights and weekends. Sometimes I was only home 8 hours before I had to go back. I decided it was controlling too much of my life and I moved back to a regular Mon-Fri job. I'm so happy to have a regular schedule again and weekends to myself. I do my best to appreciate the time I have now.
Drugs
Yoga. It’s a great way to start the week off on the right foot by dedicating some time to taking care of myself, and nice slow stretch feels really good
Sauna, Changing jobs. However now that I have new job but no contract yet, and hence have not yet given my 2 weeks, my Sunday scaries are extra bad until that happens.