Sunday (the most important day of the week) is a time to relax, reset, and refresh your life in preparation for the long week ahead. My Sundays typically follow a routine. I wake up around 10:00 a.m., shower, deep clean my room, do laundry, and relax for the rest of the day. While these tasks are seemingly mundane, pushing them off during the school week is easy. That’s why I believe Sundays are a blessing in disguise for a college student’s mental and physical well-being.
After a long week of work, I both welcome and dread Sundays. On the one hand, they’re a time for me to clean and chill out. But on the other: it marks the last day of the weekend and the start of another seemingly never-ending week of school. However, following a routine and making the most of my last day of freedom has been greatly beneficial to my overall contentment. Because of this, here’s my proven guide to the art of the “Sunday Reset” that will leave you satisfied with yourself while ready to start the upcoming week.
The first step is to clean. If you’re some clean freak who is constantly cleaning, I applaud you but that’s just not me. It’s easy to let the dust build up, forget to take out the trash, and shove my clothes back into the drawers. However, Sunday can be prime cleaning time. I do my laundry (a process that takes at least 4 hours because of how horrible my dryers are), and then proceed to deep clean every inch of my room. When I say deep clean, I mean take the Clorox wipes out and SCRUB! There’s definitely some layer of dirt from a week of non-stop studying. Let me tell you when I do this, there are some WEIRD things I’ve found in my room.
The next step is to catch up on homework. Now that you’ve done your cleaning, figure out what you have going on in the upcoming week. What could you prepare for ahead of time? Is there anything you can do to relinquish some stress off your future self? I always ask myself these questions and sometimes devote time to casually doing schoolwork. It’s important, though, to not pressure yourself to do all your homework on Sunday. Maybe briefly work on school and create a general schedule for yourself for the upcoming week.
The final and most important step: relax! Unfortunately the weekend is ending, so, yes, do what you can to be productive on Sundays. But honestly, relaxing is the most vital part of the reset process. Watch a movie, eat a sweet treat or two, and just hang out with friends. Recharging your social/academic battery for even a couple of hours will give you the boost of energy you need to take on the upcoming week.
I encourage you all to savor and take advantage of your Sundays. Establish a routine for yourself that leaves you feeling refreshed yet accomplished. I promise the week ahead will seem a little less dreadful, and you’ll feel a little more at ease in your personal and academic life.