How many of you have struggled with Sunday scaries? How many of you have never even heard of Sunday scaries? If you have not heard of Sunday scaries I am here to explain them to you and there's a good chance you have experienced them before without even knowing. If you have heard of Sunday scaries I am going to share some tips and tricks that help you overcome and manage the scaries. I also am going to talk about how normal these feelings are and how having them doesn’t mean you are crazy or that you necessarily need to have better management skills.
I myself heard the term “Sunday Scaries” for the first time on Tik Tok, of course. Specifically, the Tik Tok I saw was a girl manifesting what she wanted out of her week and she was practicing manifestation in order to avoid the overwhelming effect Sunday Scaries tend to have on her. This made me very aware of how often I experience the overwhelming feeling of Sunday Scaries.
So... what exactly are Sunday Scaries?
Sunday Scaries are anxious and nervous feelings that people tend to feel on... you guessed it, Sundays. These feelings stem from fear of the week ahead and the unknown that comes with that. People might feel anxious about an upcoming exam, meeting, interview, etc. Sometimes just the idea of having a busy week ahead can cause someone to feel this way.
I have felt this way when I have exams happening in the upcoming week but especially when I have exams, work, and other obligations all within one week; sometimes within a few days.
Sundays, for most people, tend to be the day of the week that is dedicated toward prep, cleaning, and getting our lives back together. I know in my life Sundays are what I dedicate toward prep and refresh. But because so many of us treat our Sundays this way we also place pressure on our Sundays and make the week ahead seem more daunting than it actually is.
Can they be beat?
When I saw this whole Sunday scaries concept on Tik Tok I honestly didn’t think it was something that I could actively beat and get rid of. Naturally I am an anxious person and love order. Because I love order when weeks ahead of me have new elements I go into a slight panic (aka feeling heavy Sunday Scaries.)
However, I have found a couple things that help me every Sunday, or even anytime I am just feeling overwhelmed of what is ahead of me. Now, of course these feelings can never be fully stopped because life happens but these steps help alleviate and lessen the anxious and overwhelming feelings.
First, I always make sure that my planner (I use the Plum Paper college student planner) is organized and that my tasks are EVENLY distributed throughout my week ahead. One issue I see made so many times, and an issue I have made myself, is overloading one day of the week when those tasks could be distributed throughout a few days. SPREAD OUT THE WORK!
Second, I like to organize my room, my pantry, and my fridge. Basically I organize all of my surroundings and belongings. Having these three spaces (and all of my stuff) clean and organized will help more than you realize throughout the week. I am a person who cannot work in mess and if I ensure everything is tidy on Sunday, I can start my week off on the right foot. Knowing I am going to start on the right foot has helped me feel less anxious.
Third, I give myself time for self-care, typically in the evening before I go to bed. Self-care looks different for everyone, so find what your definition of self-care is, but for me it means washing my hair, maybe a hair mask, doing my full skin care routine (facial steamer and all), reading, watching YouTube videos or Netflix, and not looking at anything school related for the rest of my evening.
You can find many other tips and tricks on google and even as you scroll through social media that help battle Sunday Scaries but these three are the ones that have worked VERY WELL for me and that I would recommend to anyone in need of Sunday anxiety alleviation.
How common are they?
I can say with 100 percent honesty that I experience Sunday scaries quite often and I am sure many of you feel them too, maybe without even knowing exactly what you were dealing with. We all have those moments when the list of tasks ahead can feel like boulder crushing down on us and it is so easy to let what's ahead of us cause us anxious feelings and increasing stress. I have even seen, as I scroll through social media, that the majority of college students, and working people experience Sunday Scaries, ALMOST WEEKLY.
But don’t let this fact and your feelings make you feel like you should be doing better or like you suck at managing your life and time. Trust me these feelings are normal. Instead, PLEASE take this as a sign to challenge yourself. I will be challenging myself on this too.
The challenge is:
To create and follow steps that alleviate any stress being felt. (If you don’t know what steps to take, check out my recommendations that I mentioned earlier on the post or take some time and research, you will find at least one thing that works for you.)
To treat Sundays as a preparatory day but also a DAY OF REST because not giving your mind and body true rest is only going to make the anxious Sunday feelings worse.
That’s it, that’s the challenge.
I hope this post gave you some enlightenment on the concept of Sunday Scaries and I hope you can find some new steps to impliment that will help you anytime Sunday Scaries appear
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I love you all.
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