Navigating academic, social, work, and club-related obligations in college can feel daunting and difficult! To help make this more doable, I am a firm believer in the self-care Sunday: dedicating the day to setting yourself up for a successful week by taking care of your space, body, and mind. Here are the steps I take to make sure my week starts off right.
1. Bedroom and House Reset
I find starting my week with a clean and uncluttered space puts me in a more relaxed and productive mood. I dedicate a large portion of my Sunday to house maintenance and chores (vacuuming my room and home spaces, scrubbing the bathroom, taking out the trash, completing my laundry, and more). Having a clean space helps me feel less overwhelmed heading into the week and helps me put less time and effort into maintaining a clean space while balancing class and other time commitments during the week.
2. Meal Prep
The Sunday meal prep is an essential part of my Sunday routine to ensure that I have healthy and nourishing meals easily ready to go on the weekdays when it’s easy to get overwhelmed and overloaded with to-dos.
If you’re like me, regular and healthy meals are one of the first things to take a back seat when I have a stressed and busy day. Sometimes cooking a dinner or lunch on a day when deadlines are looming seems like a time consuming and overwhelming task I can’t afford, making it easy to rely on grab-and-go snack foods takeout. To help ensure I am maintaining a healthy and consistent meal schedule and not falling into the trap of the coffee-for-breakfast, I spend time prepping some easily grabbable meals.
3. The Everything Shower and Skincare
Taking time for self care on Sundays helps me feel refreshed, relaxed, and ready to take on the week ahead! I dedicate my Sundays to my longer showers and more in-depth skin care routines so I feel polished and put together for the week ahead.
4. Calendar Planning
My friends will tell you I am glued to my Google Calendar like it is a life-line. As someone that thrives on schedules and to-do lists, this application is my safe haven and is incredibly helpful in ensuring I dedicate time to the things I want to make space in addition to class for, like working out, socializing, and reading. I spend about 15-20 minutes of my Sundays blocking out and color coordinating my time commitments for the week, which helps me get a picture for how I need to balance my obligations.
5. Early bed and meditation
Getting a good night of sleep is so essential for setting the tone of my week! I find starting Mondays on the note of exhaustion leads to negative effects on my mood and productivity that bleed into the rest of my week. Ensuring my Mondays are starting after a minimum 8 hours of sleep helps me start my week with energy and happiness.