Sunday Scaries

[CloneFanInKC]

I'm reading the book, Die With Zero right now. It's actually written by an ex-Hawkeye football player, but don't let that bias you.

It makes a good case for retiring as early as you can. I'm not rich, but I do believe that worklife robs you of your best years, and I am definitely not going to be someone who keeps working because that's all they know.

Great book

 

[cycloneML]

Do you all get the Sunday Scaries, i.e. the dread and worry that Sunday afternoon/evening brings, knowing a full week of work is ahead?

I have a mostly stressless job, but evenso, every Sunday I mourn the impending loss of freedom that Monday brings.

If this is you, what are your coping mechanisms, or how do you reframe things in your mind to help?

I was the poster child for this my whole life. I gave up the bottle 5 weeks ago. No more Sunday scaries.

 

[Cyched]

Helps that there’s a game today, even if the opponent is a tomato can.

 

[Al_4_State]

I struggled with this for awhile. Eventually came to the conclusion I was struggling with anxiety in general. Got treated for that, and it's really kind of gone away altogether.

One thing that helped regulate it prior to addressing my larger anxiety issue was having super busy Sundays that left me just tired by 8-9PM. I had noticed that I never had Sunday Scaries when I was in the field working 7 days a week. My Sundays weren't really Sundays, ya know?

The weird part is that I don't dread work. It just seemed like part of this cycle where my adrenaline/excitement/dopamine built throughout the week peaking on Thursday night/Friday. Have fun Saturday. At some point later in Sunday I'd just start to feel anxious to the point I couldn't sleep well (or at all by the end). Get through it, and everything would be fine by the time I was actually working on Monday and then I'd sleep great all through the work week.

 

[BryceC]

I dont sleep in much at all on the weekends. I kind of like being up and making breakfast and having coffee before everyone else is up.
I'll give myself until about 9:45/10 before I start yard chores/house cleaning/errands with the hopes of being done at like 2.
The afternoon and night are a lot more enjoyable with small chores like changing laundry amd watching football.

I find my mind likes to not have much big to do on Sunday nights.

I’m incredibly busy. Never really wanted to be, it’s not how I planned my life, but I’m basically in constant motion.

I think it’ll actually be really hard for me once my kids’ activities slow down. I’m not recommending it because people burn out but my weekends are busier than my work weeks for the most part.

 

[cycloner29]

I decided to take a swig of some left over hot chocolate from my thermos last night that was sitting on the counter from Saturday afternoon's game. Well it wasn't so hot and it did not taste so good. I dumped the rest of it out and it was kinda of a coagulated chocolate chunky syrup. Really left a horrible taste in my mouth and I had just eaten. I felt quezzy the rest of the night.

 

[TXCyclones]

I ended up taking early retirement.

Retirement was never on my radar for two reasons. First, I liked my job for the most part, although some days were definitely better than others. Second, I always assumed that I needed to work longer to be able to retire comfortably.

When I was offered an early retirement incentive, I sat down for the first time with our financial advisor and discovered to my complete surprise that both my wife and I could retire right away and be very comfortable (I should mention, though, that we don't live a very extravagant life style).

So we went ahead and pulled the trigger and we haven't regretted the decision. We've been providing full time day care for 2 toddler grandkids and taking 2 elementary age grandkids to school and back each day. Not only have we grown so much closer to our grandkids, we're saving our own kids a ton of money which helps their families out tremendously.

Where'd you find your financial advisor? Every time I see anyone with a "Financial Advisor" title I just assume it's a money grab or scam.

 

[Frog]

I'm in the same situation as Pourcyne. Days are starting to run together for me. I've had several months of steady work due to an expansion, and today I'm taking the rest of the day off. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I know I need to do some fall tillage tomorrow.,

 

[Arkansas Cyclone]

I remember those feelings all too well. I'd feel the dread start to creep in early Sunday afternoon. I didn't have a terrible job or anything. As someone else said, there were good days and bad days. It was just the dread of driving to work every day, the pressure of constant deadlines, and dealing with the office drama which, when added all together, had become exhausting. Then I retired about 3 years ago and that Sunday dread was gone and I'm relaxed and really enjoying life even more. Ironically, with retirement, there really isn't a weekend anymore. All the days tend to blur together.

 

[Peter]

Mondays are much better now that I'm working remotely. For me a lot of the job anxiety was having to put on a face and be a functional human at the office and interacting with people. Doing remote, I love how all of my interactions with clients and coworkers are on a schedule and they are all work-related. So much easier to tune out office drama, work politics, and other ******** and just focus on my job.

 

[Blackhawk6515]

In 10 days I turn 65, and in 41 working days I will be retiring. Sunday's no longer get to me, but for years they did. I used to be a complete mess dreading Monday mornings. But I heard something somewhere, 'Don't let your Monday ruin your Sunday'.

 

[Chizit]

For me, it is more of a struggle with the monotony of life, and I think Sundays nights can really trigger that feeling. It comes and goes. Sometimes it freaks me out to just feel like I'm surviving the work week to just get to the weekend. Rinsing and repeating for 15-20 more years.

Sometimes I find it comforting knowing that it is a predictable and comfortable life with not many frills. I guess it just depends on the day and week for me sometimes. Which I will know what kind of week it is by about 6:00 PM on Sundays. Lol.

I have tried journaling a little bit on Sunday nights. Just using chatgpt for beginning/end of the week prompts. Pretty crazy what even just writing down your thoughts and feelings can do.

 

[wxman1]

Since February I have moved programs and reduced my stress a ton which has helped. Granted I do continually question the value I bring and what it brings me. I am jealous of those like teachers, medical professionals etc., that can honestly say they have an impact. Add on that I am not super optimistic about future growth etc. at my current employer and I do struggle at times but not to the point of dreading going to work.

I will agree though that WFH definitely helps, especially for an introvert like me.