Your 'Sunday Funday' has quickly turned into Sunday dread, worrying about the week to come. If you’re like me, a level of anxiety develops Sunday evening as you transition away from the carefree ease of the weekend back into the requirements of your daily life. But everyone goes through this, right?
For months I would dread the week to come. I work in a fast-paced corporate environment, while balancing being a mother at the same time. The projects and to-dos were endless and my boundaries were fluid, at best, if I had any at all.
Despite this, I wasn’t willing to accept the feeling of anxiety as my new normal, so I became determined to implement some changes in my life to rid myself of the Monday morning dread. The first step in my journey was to determine why I felt this way.
Why do we dread Mondays?
The weekends for most of us means sleeping in and enjoying the ease of a slower pace, compared to the weekly sprint - we have freedom. For me, in particular, that meant more free time because my husband was home during the day, to partner in caring for our son. And while the weekend holds requirements of its own, I could complete them when I felt like it.
In my work life, I realized that I was taking on far too much work than I was readily able to handle, due to my then inability to set appropriate boundaries. I would often place unrealistic expectations on myself, furthering this stress.
With this new awareness I went about making tangible changes to positively impact my outlook. Give these tips a try and see if they help you also:
Do A Brain dump
Every Friday before shutting down for the week, I do a brain dump of all the things I need to do for the following week. Some may still prefer to physically write this out but I open a tab in OneNote and list things out. I find this to be a huge stress reliever because it allows me to clear my mind, so that I don’t have to actively remember it all over the weekend. As much as one could plan out their week, this is the best time to do so.
Set Appropriate Boundaries At Work
Most of my stress from my career came, not from the inability to manage it all but feeling the need to be involved in every moving part of a work project. Having timely status updates with my peers on key deliverables and allowing them to work their items outside of me, has done my stress level some good. Setting the appropriate boundaries for your time and what you can handle at a given point are imperatives to easing back into work. I’d also add that you can direct people to a resource, instead of always being the resource.
Ask for help
Working from home has some amazing benefits but the need to be available after hours isn’t healthy or sustainable. Just because you’ve cut out the compute, doesn’t mean you need to allow your career to merge into what should be your personal time.
As I mentioned earlier, I work from home with my son, which is a huge blessing for my family - and my preference as a new Mom. There are some days however, when it can be a bit overwhelming - as I have traditionally busier days at the start of the week. To help solve for this, I have help from my in-laws, who graciously offered to help. The times that they are here, I am able to power through work completing some bigger projects for the week. I know this goes without saying, some people may not be able to get help from family. If feasible, consider a nanny share or Mother’s Day Out program, for a couple days during the week - especially if full time childcare is not an option, for whatever reason.
Aside from finding work that you don’t completely hate, it can be hugely beneficial to understand why you dread the start of the week and change the things you can to make the thought of Monday less dreadful.
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