I had a nice, relaxing weekend. Jeremy was here and we watched A LOT of Olympic events. Figure skating will always be my favorite winter Olympic sport but I got totally into snowboarding last night. It’s INSANE what these athletes can do! I’ve never even been skiing or snowboarding so I can’t even fathom these crazy flips.
Saturday we went to see The Shape of Water. The movie is about a mute cleaning lady for a government facility who falls in love with a science experiment that is being held captive at the facility. It sound weird because… it is pretty weird. But it’s also charming and creepy and very very good. Jeremy and I both enjoyed. It’s by the director of Pan’s Labyrinth, which I’ve also heard great things about and now need to see.
And now it’s Sunday, everyone’s least favorite day of the week. Sunday’s I usually wake up early and workout before Jeremy wakes up. Afterward we go to brunch and then he heads home to Westchester. After he leaves I always start to feel the Sunday Scaries sink in. I start feeling overwhelmed thinking about ALL the things I need to get done during the week. It’s freaking daunting.
Over the past few weeks I’ve made a conscious effort to take back Sunday. Not to be confused with the band Taking Back Sunday…
I’ve been doing what I can to say girl, bye to the Sunday Scaries. It’s not a perfect list, I’m still figuring out how to make Sundays suck less. And I should probably get my sh*t together and do things like meal prep on Sundays too. But it’s a start.
How To Make Sunday Suck Less
▶︎ after dinner I start winding down.
Sunday night I typically meet up with my parents for dinner nearby (they spend weekends at their apartment in the city) or order something in. Because we all know I don’t really cook…
After dinner I start winding down. This means I’ll legit put on pajamas sometimes as early as 7:00PM. No shame here.
I wake up at 4:30AM Monday mornings to teach. And no, I’m not a morning person. Realistically I know I’ll never be the kind of person that can be in bed and asleep by 8PM. But I can start relaxing and winding down. In a perfect world I’d have this glorious Sunday self-care ritual with candles and essential oils and journaling… but realistically it’s just me reading in bed for 30 minutes before going to sleep.
▶︎ I plan out my schedule for the week.
I use a combination of a planner and g-cal to keep track of my schedule. I’m weird and like using both.
On Sunday’s I re-write my schedule on a piece of paper. One, it helps me remember my schedule. Two, I feel less frazzled when I can visualize the flow of my day.
(I recently found this weekly calendar at Flying Tiger but have been making my own version since college)
▶︎ I write out my to-do list for the week.
In case you didn’t already know this, I’m pretty Type-A. See the above bullet for proof. Not surprisingly I’m ALL about the to-do lists.
My personal style is I like to have a “master” to-do list for the week. I dump all the things I need to do between Monday and Friday. Things like homework assignments that are due. Blog posts that need to be written. Reminders to go to CVS and get more paper towels. And a note that I really really need to do laundry and get my nails done…
On Sunday’s I’ll write out my master to-do list for the week. I find it helps keep the anxiety at bay for me. I don’t know what it is about to-do lists but I find whenever I’m feeling frazzled (okay, that’s always) if I write out what needs to be done I feel SO much better.
I then write out a new to-do list every morning using my master to-do list for the week as reference.
▶︎ I [try to] go to bed super early.
Like I said before, this doesn’t always happen. But it’s something that I really, really, really try to do. On Sunday nights I’m not scrambling to get one last thing done before I go to bed. I’m not tweaking my playlists. Or writing a blog post. Or answer emails. Nope, I’m trying to relax.
After dinner I veg the f*ck out and stop doing work. It’s a simple action but super helpful and helps me feel like I’m not scrambling to pull my life together before Monday morning.
Your Turn: How do you manage the Sunday Scaries?
your taking back sunday joke😂 and i’ve been debating watching the shape of water but wasn’t sure if i’d like it!!! maybe i’ll see it now that you said it was good…
as for sundays, i try to get all my freelance work done by 8pm so that i have the last two hours of the night to myself! i do any tidying up we have around the house and then veg out on the couch with hot cocoa and my planner. idk if it’s a complete remedy for the sunday scaries, but i do my best! haha