The Quiet Power of Reclaiming Your Sunday Scaries

It’s 6pm on a Sunday and the sun has already set, your laptop is open but untouched, and you can feel the quiet hum of anxiety starting to build in your chest. Where has the day gone? What interaction from this weekend are you replaying in your head a hundred times, while you think about all of the awkward moments you’ve ever had in your life? Nevermind the paper that’s due tomorrow night that you haven’t thought about since Thursday afternoon or the pile of laundry in the corner of your room that has gone untouched for too many days. We all know this feeling a little too well… the Sunday Scaries. For pretty much my entire Bucknell career, I’ve lived Sunday like an inevitable curse: I’m already behind on my work because the only productive thing I’ve done today was grab brunch with my friends and debrief the events of the past couple days, needless to say I am absolutely exhausted and definitely do not have time to be tired!

To combat this, the mindset switch I am trying to teach myself is that Sunday is a reset, not a countdown. Oftentimes, we look at Sundays as ‘pre-Mondays’, as if their only purpose is to brace us for the week ahead. When we start to view Sunday as a transition rather than an inevitable time-bomb, the day becomes less dreadful and can even change the trajectory of how we enter the upcoming week. Reclaiming your Sundays doesn’t have to mean ignoring responsibilities, instead it can mean reframing them. What can I do today to set me up for an enjoyable and productive Monday? Personally, cleaning my room is always where I start; I am a firm believer that my room is a reflection of my mind (and entering an organized, tidy space to start off the week makes a big difference!), so I turn on some music (Red Taylor’s Version is always my go-to this time of year) and demonstrate self-care by making my space a place I look forward to coming home to.

We can also make an effort to have rituals, not routines. The word ‘routine’ is everywhere – I have seen more morning, afternoon, night, 5 to 9 before my 9 to 5 routines than I can even begin to count. The word ‘routine’ itself can induce pressure, begging to be something that you should stick to. If we simply change the word to ‘ritual’ it already feels slower, more intentional, and more attainable. It allows you to be more present (something I am especially adamant about senior year!). 

The Sunday Scaries often come from a feeling that life is moving too fast – and I can attest that this semester is flying by – but by being patient, forgiving, and kind to yourself, taking a moment, or a day, to gather yourself and your emotions as well as reflect on how much fun the past week has been, not only helps you be present, but allows you to be grateful and in sync with yourself. 

Let’s try not to fear Sunday or ‘distract’ ourselves with endless scrolling, but spend time with ourselves and the ones we love to reclaim our Sundays.

• college
• mental health