Words of wisdom
CAREER GUIDANCE
Although none of us are alone in feeling the Scaries , they manifest and affect us differently based on our personalities and personal circumstances . Here are some of the common causes :
• Exhaustion and burnout : Weekends allow us to recover from the previous week and to recharge for the following week . Some of us recoup through physical activity , having company over or literally relaxing . Whatever your method , not feeling rested by Sunday can cause major anxiety because of physical exhaustion or mental fatigue . Your job can make weekends harder to enjoy if you do not have enough time to rest and if you are burned out . A sign of burnout is that it takes more effort than normal to do basic tasks such as responding to emails , making simple phone calls or participating in meetings . Burnout and the Scaries are two separate issues to deal with , but they both , unfortunately , feed each other .
• Never catching up : Weekends pass by quickly , making it difficult to get through our to-do lists . There are many chores and errands we can only do on weekends because weekdays are dedicated to work , children and other pressing matters . If we do not get far enough down our checklist , it affects our feeling of accomplishment and our ability to prepare for work , leading to a feeling of being behind or overwhelmed . This is another source of anxiety , which feeds into the dread of the coming workweek .
• Our jobs : Sometimes we feel the Sunday Scaries simply because our jobs are stressful . We become afraid because we have tight deadlines , are worried about job security or because our jobs are difficult . Anxiety consumes us because we have just spent the last two days not thinking about our demanding jobs , only to have to return to them on Monday morning .
• Mini vacation syndrome : You know that overwhelming feeling you get when you return from a great vacation only to have 1,000 emails to read ? Every weekend has the potential to be a mini vacation . It is tough to shift back into work mode when you have spent two days shifting out of it . 6
Words of wisdom
“ Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future , but from wanting to control it .”
Kahlil Gibran 5
We can beat many types of anxiety with an action plan . The Sunday Scaries manifest in our imagination because , unfortunately , many of us are programmed to imagine the worst . The first step in beating the Sunday Scaries is finding clarity . You can only solve a problem when you identify it and clearly describe the problem .
The rest of this article will outline suggestions — including some based on personal experience — to help you avoid or at least alleviate the worst of the dread associated with the Scaries . These solutions are general and need to be tailored to suit your everyday schedule , family obligations and your lifestyle . But they should give you a good starting point .
Prepare your week . We experience the Scaries because we either experience a feeling of fear of missing out ( FOMO ) on the weekend or dreading the week ahead . Sometimes we feel both . To make sure you increase the chances of having another great weekend and stomp out the angst , get active . Plan out your week . I , personally , do not plan my days and the week chronologically . I have scheduled meetings both internally and with clients , but I have to be ready to switch gears quickly when I get a last-minute request from a client or a sudden crisis that needs to be addressed . I would never be able to stick to an hour-by-hour plan . That would cause another set of Scaries . Instead , I make a list of everything I need to get done during the week in no particular order . Then , I go back through the list and assign a number to each item that signifies its importance . For instance , I assign the number one to items that need to get done immediately . By doing this , I know not to attempt the items marked as number two until all the number ones have been completed . I then mark the items in order of importance . I feel so much better when I get the list taken care of because I know what I need to do during the week . More importantly , though , I know what I need to do first as soon as I sit down to work on Monday morning . Planning takes time , but I would be spending that time worrying and not enjoying it , anyway . That preparation time is invaluable to my psyche and my productivity .
136 acamstoday . org