The Sunday Scaries and I have become well-acquainted in the last few months. It started off as the unemployed Sunday Scaries. Even without a 9–5, that weird M–F pressure stuck around. A lot of us in the middle of this job crisis feel it: if you’re not grinding away on applications during the week, it feels like you’re slacking. The expectation to perform doesn’t go away, even post-employment.
Now, I have regular Sunday Scaries (yay!).
But what exactly are the Sunday Scaries? According to the Cleveland Clinic, “The Sunday scaries are a form of anticipatory anxiety– basically, angst about something that’s going to happen. In this case, that means returning to emails, meetings and demands that come with work.” In plain terms, Sunday Scaries are that feeling of doom we experience on Sunday when we have to leave relaxation mode and brace for the week of labor. It’s knowing that tomorrow is only Monday and the next weekend is the furthest it could possibly be.
Why Are We So Anxious About Work?
The long commute, fluorescent office lighting, micromanagers, pushing through burnout– whatever makes you feel stressed or annoyed during the work week is what gives you that feeling of dread on Sundays. You’re not alone! Apparently, 75% of workers get the Sunday Scaries. Which is insane.
It doesn’t help that right now, many of us are going to work while pretending that the world doesn’t feel like it’s ending outside, that the dark cloud of unemployment rates loom over us like a dark cloud (which makes us feel like we should be grateful to even be employed, and like we should ignore unhealthy work situations in order to hold on to the ones we have), on top of any personal life bumps in the road we may be experiencing.
Although I think that 75% of us experience this is insane, it’s not shocking at all. It’s grim out here.
How You Can Beat the Sunday Scaries
1. Plan your Mondays in advance. I recently started to keep a daily to-do list. The hyper-planner in me that needs everything on the calendar and properly planned for time management really did her big one with this. Every day, I go to work knowing exactly what I need to check of that day (and for the rest of the week). It’s helped me clear up space in my brain from having to hold and memorize everything that needs to get done, which makes me feel significantly less stressed.
Sometimes it really is just the amount we have to hold and juggle in our heads that make us feel chaotic, manic, and anxious.
2. Make Monday your WFH day. This, of course, only applies to those with a hybrid work style – specifically those who can choose the days they work remotely. Most people select Fridays as their remote work day because it makes the weekend feel like it begins sooner. Easing into the week from your couch or coworking space can take the sting out of Monday morning.
3. Make Sundays relaxing. Sundays are my rot day. I’ve made it a habit to stay home on Sundays, and after doing my weekly apartment deep clean (which I find relaxing), I usually treat myself to couch and TV time. If I need more time to rot than usual, I DoorDash instead of cook and keep my phone on Do Not Disturb. Create boundaries and rules for relaxation that make sense for you. Maybe for you, Sundays can be spent touching grass, creating art, or indulging in some “herbal refreshment”.
4. Stop caring (a little). This is not to say that you should start slacking and doing your worst at work. However, the sense of importance we have placed on some of our jobs is completely made up and unnecessarily stresses you out. Unless you work in emergency services, politics, or healthcare, you’re likely not saving lives with what you do. No one is going to die if the deck isn’t done. The world keeps spinning whether you update the spreadsheet or not.
While this may not alleviate the air of panic your manager or boss has created for your team, it’s a nice reminder that these deadlines are made up and that there probably aren’t any real or significant stakes at hand. “We work in PR, not ER,” is one of my favorite reminders when people make it seem like a TikTok post is do or die.
5. Try meditation or therapy. The reality is that some of us are working in settings or under people who are actually our opps. DoorDash and to-do lists would not change the fact that you arguably have the worst boss in the world or work in a highly hostile environment. And right now? Job-hopping isn’t always an option.
So while you wait for your next move, take care of yourself. Meditation can help quiet the spiral, and therapy can give you tools to cope with the anxiety. When I was in a job that literally gave me panic attacks (something I’d never had before), the only things that helped were therapy and time away from that job. If your job is making you feel like you’re unraveling, talk to someone.
And if you don’t know where to start, ask the Sesh Team– we have mental health professionals in our community who could literally be coworking right next to you.
