Got a bad case of the Sunday Night Blues?

Come nighttime on Sunday, my husband goes glum and mopes around the house. He sits on the couch, aimlessly scrolling through his phone letting out the occasional sigh. The only thing that gets him out of his funk is Sunday night football but even then, after the game, he goes back into his “woe-is-me cocoon” before hitting the sack.

He’s not alone. It seems as if the whole world collectively lets out a sigh on Sunday nights because the weekend is over and Monday is just around the corner.

Welcome to Sunday Night Blues, where you get that sinking feeling you’ll soon have to spend the next five days at the office replying endless amount of emails, making it to meetings after meetings, and spending what seems to be like a bulk of your day completing reports, rushing to meet deadlines, reporting to your boss and the list goes on.

The fun weekend is over; it’s time to face the dreaded workweek. It even strikes those who love their jobs because who would rather work instead of do their favourite weekend activity? In fact, in an international Monster.com poll, 78 percent of respondents said that Sunday Night Blues is a normal occurrence for them while 47 percent actually reported experiencing the blues real bad.

What does it mean if you have a bad case of Sunday Night Blues? That you haven’t fully utilised your weekend to recharge, refresh and rejuvenate for the week ahead. So what needs to be done to beat the blues? Here are some ideas.

#1 Don’t dread over it!
Nothing you do can change the simple fact that you have to go back to work on Monday. So instead of mulling and feeling depressed over it, why not make the most out of whatever’s left of the weekend? One way to do so is to keep yourself busy. Catch up with some friends for dinner or do something you enjoy like reading or watching documentaries on Netflix. The trick is to keep yourself so busy and entertained that the Sunday Night Blues dread doesn’t even have the chance to creep into your mind.

#2 Unplug. Disconnect
That’s what the weekend is for – to leave work aside for a bit and concentrate on other things that are going on in your life. If you spend your weekend also working, then it’s no wonder why you feel like you didn’t do anything fun at all and Monday’s already here. Even if you have an important report that really needs to be done, it’s still important to spend some time unplugged, if anything just for a few hours. In fact, it’s highly recommended so that you can start the weekend more productive and motivated to work.

#3 Do something fun during the weekday too
Set up little things to look forward too during the week. Like a Wednesday-night movie or a quick coffee date with a friend on Thursday. That way, it won’t just be about work Monday to Friday.

#4 Prepare for your Monday on Friday
Think about it – you dread the idea of work on Monday because there will be a ton of stuff for you to deal with, right? So why not get it out of the way on Friday instead? Of course all you want to think about at 4pm on Friday is getting your weekend started but if you stay back an additional hour to clean your inbox, get the files ready for Monday and tie up the loose ends, you won’t have to dread Monday so bad because you’ve already done a few tasks in advance.

Photo by Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash