The Guide to Curing Your Sunday Scaries
Have you ever woken up on Sunday feeling restless and stressed, and ended up wasting away the day being anxious and unmotivated? Us too...but it’s time to reclaim Sundays as a day of rest and relaxation, while still getting our shit done. We at The Edge have put together a simple guide with helpful tips on how to beat the Sunday Scaries.
Keep Your Space Clean
We believe that tidying your space additionally tidies your mind. By having a cluttered space, you are more likely to feel overwhelmed, ultimately creating more feelings of anxiousness. It has been suggested by psychologists that a disorganized room is a representation of a disorganized mental state. With a disorganized mental state, it’s a lot harder to be productive and complete tasks. On the other hand, a tidy space leads to a clear mind, allowing you to be the most motivated and least stressed version of yourself as possible.
Proactively cleaning your space, even just slightly tidying up, can do a lot for your mental health. Waking up on Sunday mornings, there can be a lot racing through your mind. The last thing you need is to wake up in a messy, cluttered space, which only adds more stress to your day. We at The Edge recommend attempting to keep your space clean throughout the week, making it easier to tidy on the weekends. By continuously picking up after yourself, and tidying your space before going out, you can avoid the stress of having to deep clean your room every Sunday.
Establish a Routine
Since humans are creatures of habit, we ultimately feel more comfortable and motivated when we know what to expect and can follow a routine. It doesn’t have to be a minute by minute schedule, but having a simple routine can be really beneficial to your mental health and can help you beat your Sunday Scaries.
We recommend forming a routine that is specifically tailored to you. If you aren’t the running type, don’t attempt to make a 9:00 a.m. jog part of your routine. Routines can be really simple, but can drastically change the course of your day. It can be as simple as taking a hot shower, treating yourself to breakfast, and making a cup of tea while starting your homework. By creating a go-to Sunday routine, you will ultimately feel more motivated and prepared to get through the day, helping you beat the Sunday Scaries.
Listen to Your Body
Being in tune with both your physical and mental needs is extremely important when considering your overall mental health. As college students, we often push ourselves past our physical and mental limits, trying to keep up with a fast paced social calendar and meet our academic goals. After a long weekend of chaos, taking care of yourself and listening to your body is crucial. When we say listen to your body, we don’t just mean drinking a glass of water and calling it a day. We mean really listen to your body, and be careful not to sacrifice what your body needs.
If you’re not being honest with yourself about what your body truly needs, the Sunday Scaries will get to you every week. Whether it means going to bed at 10:00 p.m. to catch up on sleep, or choosing to stay in on Saturday night to have a night to yourself, putting yourself and your body first truly makes a huge difference.
Give Yourself a Break
College is a transitional period, where students are learning to function as adults and slowly entering the real world. Due to societal standards, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves as college students. Academic stress and pressure is somewhat inevitable as students, but it’s important to practice giving yourself a break. Although it’s not realistic to dedicate the entirety of your Sunday to rest and self care, proper time management can allow you to dedicate time for yourself and your mental health. We at The Edge recommend keeping a detailed, weekly schedule, so that you have a general idea of what your Sunday is going to look like. Once you have a rough idea of what your Sunday will look like, it becomes much easier to set time aside for yourself.
Prioritizing your mental health and allowing yourself to relax is something we all need to work on. Although it’s midterm season, it is crucial to give yourself a break and remember that grades are not everything, and you are more than a number. As college students, we are all guilty of procrastinating and leaving things until the last minute, which is how Sundays have become so scary in the first place. We know sometimes it’s inevitable, but leaving hours and hours of homework until Sunday is ultimately only worsening your mental health and amplifying the Sunday Scaries.
Although the Sunday Scaries are not completely unavoidable, following these four tips definitely makes it easier to combat them. Staying organized, establishing a routine, listening to your body, and giving yourself a break are all ways for us to fight the Sunday Scaries and reclaim Sundays as a day of rest, while still getting our shit done.