As someone who has struggled with anxiety a majority of my life, I find myself trying to cope with the Sunday Scaries most weeks. If you are not familiar with this term, the Sunday Scaries are the feelings of anxiety that tend to appear Sunday afternoon and evening regarding the impending doom of Monday. While I do love a routine, finding myself thrown back into the stress and pressure of a work week can be challenging to accept. Weekends tend to be calm, idealistic, and full of things that I love and choose to do. They are full of relaxing and reenergizing experiences and habits. Once Monday rolls around I tend to feel like I am back to being in a little box that is hard to breathe in. In the midst of feeling anxious, I have tried to implement small comforts into Sunday evenings in an effort to keep myself more calm and relaxed.
Needlepointing
I have found that needlepointing is such a calming hobby for me. I can sit and listen to music or watch movies and still be engaged in something other than a screen. I find that investing myself in something that doesn’t require a whole lot of brain power is a really great way for me to cope with the Sunday Scaries.
Lighting a Fire
In my home, we have a beautiful fireplace in the living room. I find that lighting a fire an hour or so before I get into bed is a wonderful way to relax. I think it is really the warm feeling that does it for me. It’s like my whole body is melty wax and I feel all warm and nice.
Reading
Reading a book is another great way that I have learned to cope with the Sunday Scaries. It gives my mind a chance to run away to another world. I find that with TV or movies, it is too easy for my brain to drift away and end up thinking about the week ahead of me and I start getting stressed. A book provides a focal point for my brain. I have to concentrate to understand the story rather than just drifting off into nothingness.
Create a Monday To Do List
One thing that really has helped me is Sunday night, I will write a list of everything that I need to do on Monday. There is something about getting the words on paper and out of my brain, floating aimlessly, that provides me some comfort and relief. And then, when I wake up in the morning, I already know exactly what I need to get done and where is the best place to start.
Limit Screen Time
I really try to limit my screen time an hour before I go to bed. While social media and chatting with my friends is always a fun time, I try to get my brain into a relaxed state before bed and I find that scrolling makes my brain go more into a frenzy than into a state of relaxation. By limiting screen time, I am able to fill my time with more productive things like needlepoint and books!
As I change and evolve I find the ways that I decompress to also change and evolve. What I need to relax is very much dependent on all the factors in my life. From work to family to friends, the world around me affects me deeply and in response I try to live my life and fill it with habits that are productive and helpful to me. Do you struggle with the Sunday Scaries? And if you do, how do you self-soothe?
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