I aspire to be someone who sleeps well on Sunday nights. They’re called the Sunday Blues for the many of us who feel the sense of melancholy at the close of the weekend. Standing on the precipice of Monday, I fight a Garfieldian attitude. I’m not the kind of person who sends out I Hate Mondays comics. I’m the kind of person who put an inspirational quote in the company Monday email. An email titled Good Morning!Exclamation point.
No matter how much I love my job or am happy in my life, every ounce of anxiety will creep up on Sunday nights. In the past, I’ve coped by drinking. Having some Sunday wine and staying up later than any other weeknight to avoid the tossing and turning in bed. Of course, a Monday morning hangover puts me closer to the I Hate Mondays camp.
Lately I try to manage sleep by tiring myself out during the day. Getting up early. Exercising. By the time it’s ten I’m exhausted. I don’t worry as much about the toss and turn.
But some nights (like last night) I am exhausted and it doesn’t matter. Sometimes I deep breathe and tell myself bedtime stories and push away anxious thoughts and don’t check my phone and all of it. And I am decidedly not asleep. I search my mind for other tips an hour and a half after I hit lights out and decide to put the lights back on and read for twenty minutes. Until my eyes droop and I can try again. I don’t sleep instantly, but eventually, I sleep.
For all my better habits, I have never been a good sleeper. I have resisted it most of my life and no matter what I try my brain wakes up in bed before it shuts off. Last night the thoughts rolled into my chest, tightening it with an anxiety I couldn’t place. I quietly repeated in my head: this will pass.
And look. One way or another the sun comes up. Though I gave myself an extra hour to rest this morning.
For managing the Sunday Blues, there are a plethora of good ideas available. There’s no reason we have to keep scheduled gloomy hours each week. For my part, I like quiet Sunday nights. A chance to feel settled in my home before the week. Here are some other recommendations to curb the Sunday Blues:
- Prepare for work on Monday at the end of the day Friday
- Do all the chores and tasks on Saturday; fun stuff on Sunday
- (If you’re not like me) Plan something social on Sunday evenings to look forward to
- Practice mindfulness to stay in the moment, and not in the next day
- (If you are like me) Don’t go through emotional tv/movie watching journeys on Sundays. Do it on Saturdays so you have a day to recover.
Here’s a good resource on Sunday anxiety from my favorite meditation app, Headspace:
With Love,
Natalie