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Beat the Sunday-Night Blues and Kickstart Your Working Week
Mondayitis is real, but there are ways to turn things around – what you do on Sunday can impact the whole week ahead
Joanna Tovia 11 February 2018
Houzz editorial team. Photojournalist specialising in design, travel and living well….
As the weekend draws to a close and Monday looms ever closer, it’s time to step up and take action. Not over-the-top exhausting action; gentle action that will ease the dread of Sunday night and sweeten the start to your week. Who knows – adopt a few of these simple habits and Monday morning might start to look a whole lot brighter. Dare I say you may even begin to look forward to the start of the working week?
Brighten up your day
Make Sunday the day you change the sheets. Fresh, sun-dried sheets – linen if possible – can make climbing into bed of a Sunday night a pleasure. Reserving little joys like these for when you need a bit of a lift can make a surprising difference.
Make Sunday the day you change the sheets. Fresh, sun-dried sheets – linen if possible – can make climbing into bed of a Sunday night a pleasure. Reserving little joys like these for when you need a bit of a lift can make a surprising difference.
Dedicate Sundays to you-time
Action-packed weekends are fun, but if you get to Sunday night and feel like you need a weekend to recover from your weekend, it’s time for a rethink. An obligation-free day can give you the headspace you need to recharge for the week ahead. And you know what they say – the best ideas often pop into your head when they have the space to do so.Tip: Going out on Friday night is often better than on Saturday night, simply because you wake up on Saturday morning with the sense that the whole weekend is ahead of you. Wake up on Sunday, on the other hand, and the feeling is often one of dread – the weekend can seem like it’s almost over.
Action-packed weekends are fun, but if you get to Sunday night and feel like you need a weekend to recover from your weekend, it’s time for a rethink. An obligation-free day can give you the headspace you need to recharge for the week ahead. And you know what they say – the best ideas often pop into your head when they have the space to do so.Tip: Going out on Friday night is often better than on Saturday night, simply because you wake up on Saturday morning with the sense that the whole weekend is ahead of you. Wake up on Sunday, on the other hand, and the feeling is often one of dread – the weekend can seem like it’s almost over.
Get a bit organised
Spend 20 minutes paying bills, crossing items off your household to-do list and making a list for the week ahead. This will give you a sense of control over any chaos rattling around in your head, thus relieving any stress you’re unwittingly holding in the process.Tip: Try planning your meals for the week on Sunday – and order the ingredients online – to streamline your week and boost the chances you’ll eat healthily. You don’t have to be naturally organised to bring this routine to life – just think of it as freeing up energy. The more decision making you can reduce during the week, the more energy you’ll have to dedicate to more rewarding pursuits.
Spend 20 minutes paying bills, crossing items off your household to-do list and making a list for the week ahead. This will give you a sense of control over any chaos rattling around in your head, thus relieving any stress you’re unwittingly holding in the process.Tip: Try planning your meals for the week on Sunday – and order the ingredients online – to streamline your week and boost the chances you’ll eat healthily. You don’t have to be naturally organised to bring this routine to life – just think of it as freeing up energy. The more decision making you can reduce during the week, the more energy you’ll have to dedicate to more rewarding pursuits.
Make joy not war
Take the time to do something you really enjoy on Sunday – something that leaves you feeling nourished rather than depleted at the end of the day. Play your favourite tunes while you bake, roll out your mat on the back deck and do a yoga session, get out your guitar and play some old favourites, play cards with your partner or invite a friend over to do the same.Tip: If you can give your eyes and brain a rest from screens one day during the week, this is the day to do it. A digital detox can be positively restorative.
Take the time to do something you really enjoy on Sunday – something that leaves you feeling nourished rather than depleted at the end of the day. Play your favourite tunes while you bake, roll out your mat on the back deck and do a yoga session, get out your guitar and play some old favourites, play cards with your partner or invite a friend over to do the same.Tip: If you can give your eyes and brain a rest from screens one day during the week, this is the day to do it. A digital detox can be positively restorative.
Take stock
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the magnitude of what you have to accomplish in the week ahead, particularly if you have a stressful job or are juggling family and work demands. It’s also easy to focus on what you don’t have – enough time, enough money, enough fulfilment – rather than what you do have. Use Sundays to count your blessings. If you live alone, write down some of the great things in your life in a journal dedicated to the purpose. If you live with others, sit down together for dinner on Sunday night and make it a weekly ritual to go around the table, taking turns to answer the question: What are you grateful for?Tip: Avoid the temptation to judge someone on what they’re thankful for (or what they’ve forgotten to mention). If they make a joke of it, that’s OK too. The less pressure they feel, the more likely they’ll answer more authentically next time.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the magnitude of what you have to accomplish in the week ahead, particularly if you have a stressful job or are juggling family and work demands. It’s also easy to focus on what you don’t have – enough time, enough money, enough fulfilment – rather than what you do have. Use Sundays to count your blessings. If you live alone, write down some of the great things in your life in a journal dedicated to the purpose. If you live with others, sit down together for dinner on Sunday night and make it a weekly ritual to go around the table, taking turns to answer the question: What are you grateful for?Tip: Avoid the temptation to judge someone on what they’re thankful for (or what they’ve forgotten to mention). If they make a joke of it, that’s OK too. The less pressure they feel, the more likely they’ll answer more authentically next time.
Go easy on yourself
Either share the load when it comes to making dinner on Sunday night or throw some ingredients into the slow cooker on Sunday morning so your evening is relaxed and largely chore free.Tip: If this is the one night of the week you sit down as a family to have dinner, ensure it’s a meal everyone loves and give it a sense of occasion – the good glasses, a tablecloth if you have one and candles. It doesn’t take a lot of extra effort to make dinner special.
Either share the load when it comes to making dinner on Sunday night or throw some ingredients into the slow cooker on Sunday morning so your evening is relaxed and largely chore free.Tip: If this is the one night of the week you sit down as a family to have dinner, ensure it’s a meal everyone loves and give it a sense of occasion – the good glasses, a tablecloth if you have one and candles. It doesn’t take a lot of extra effort to make dinner special.
Decide how your week will go
There’s a reason athletes are taught to visualise winning the race, breaking that record and holding the championship cup over their head – it has a direct impact on their chances of success. The same tactic can be applied to your own life. Setting an intention for the week ahead is the first step, then visualise what will happen when that intention comes to fruition. Imagining how it feels to achieve your desired outcomes will have you bounding out of bed Monday morning, ready to take on the world. After coffee, of course.
Your say
What do you do on Sundays to ease into the week ahead? Share your ideas in the Comments, and be sure to like, bookmark or share this story. Join the conversation.
There’s a reason athletes are taught to visualise winning the race, breaking that record and holding the championship cup over their head – it has a direct impact on their chances of success. The same tactic can be applied to your own life. Setting an intention for the week ahead is the first step, then visualise what will happen when that intention comes to fruition. Imagining how it feels to achieve your desired outcomes will have you bounding out of bed Monday morning, ready to take on the world. After coffee, of course.
Your say
What do you do on Sundays to ease into the week ahead? Share your ideas in the Comments, and be sure to like, bookmark or share this story. Join the conversation.
