Does your heart ever beat a little faster when you see it’s 5:00pm on a Sunday? Do you start to feel nauseous and irritable, and start stressing about everything you should or could do, but instead just keep doom scrolling because it seems like the only option? Do you only feel these symptoms of anxiety on a Sunday night?
If these signs of dread for the impending Monday sound like something you’ve experienced, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered the Sunday scaries. Sunday scaries refer to anticipatory dread, specifically referring to anxiety when the weekend is almost over. You may be nervous or anxious about the week of school or work before it even happens.
It’s safe to say that not everyone relates to this, though. Some people feel the scaries only sometimes, while others may love their Sunday nights, use it as a “reset time.” It can be a day of rest, relaxation, and getting the little things done. But for major procrastinators and overthinkers (or anyone with these weekly thoughts), there are coping strategies to take some of the weight off your shoulders.
I use the term “Sunday scaries” almost every week during the school year. The mere thought of having to go “back to the grind” sends my body and mind into a fluster of uncontrolled thoughts. My brain goes into high alert, overthinking everything there is. Things like “I shouldn’t have been on my phone for the last 45 minutes, I could have been doing my homework,” or, “how am I going to find time to do this assignment, write an essay, walk my dog, go to practice, clean my room, volunteer, eat dinner, shower, and enjoy my life this week?” Ava Gasowski (‘28) relates to this, saying, “I feel uncoordinated and if I have a bunch of stuff to do, I don’t know what’s more important.”
When I feel this level of unease that I’m not sure others would understand, I use my favorite coping strategy. Writing down what I’m feeling may sound like something a therapist would say, but I genuinely feel better after I can write what’s going through my head. Sometimes it’s all I need to release a little tension. The next piece of advice I can offer is to make a to-do list as the week goes on and do a little bit whenever you can. The National Council for Mental Wellbeing suggests categorizing your tasks: high, medium, and low priority.
Although, thoughts like: is what I’m doing worth it? What does any of it even mean? Sometimes these thoughts all swirl in my head when I think of the long week ahead. Whether it’s the people pleaser in someone or the combined stressors, these big questions can send your brain into an uncomfortable frenzy before you start your week. Scott McGrath, teacher at Oyster River High School (ORHS), says “it’s really a shift of mindset, I think we can sometimes feel like a slave to the exterior world and all these different expectations; we put undue pressure on ourselves.”
When you feel yourself thinking about all you have to do with not enough time, another way to deal with this can be to take a few minutes to yourself to breathe. Once I stopped rolling my eyes at the idea of meditating and actually tried it, I genuinely felt more ready to tackle my stressors. Meditating can allow you to plant yourself firmly in the present, whether it’s with a meditation app or just sitting in a quite space for a little while, centering your mind. A coping strategy that works well for Maddie Repucci (‘27) when she feels the scaries is to phone a friend. Repucci says, “I call my cousin and vent, and she’ll do the same thing so I kind of know that I’m not the only one.”
Sunday dread can often be for a number of reasons. A major component of the unease can come from overbooking yourself. I for one have to keep myself busy, but if I keep myself too busy, that’s when the spiraling starts. The fear of starting your week can also be a sign of something that is not right in life. Maybe it’s the sport you play that genuinely might just be draining you more than filling you up. Or it could be the job you applied for and now are starting to regret that decision.
Everyone has to do hard things in life, but it’s important to find that balance between what’s scary and good and what’s just dreadfully scary.
And if you’re anything like me, who can’t pinpoint what’s making your Sundays so nerve wracking and can usually get over it by the time Monday morning rolls around, you may need to figure out some coping strategies for yourself.
It’s also possible to make your Sunday a day you look forward to; maybe you start to do your high priority tasks on your Saturday morning instead of pushing it all off to a Sunday and letting your Sunday be a day for you. Finish the book you’ve been looking forward to. Go window shopping with your friends, watch that movie, and bake those cookies. Make it a day where you can feel productive with whatever it is that makes you happy.
All in all, the restlessness and familiar unease of a Sunday can feel scary, but there are ways to manage it. Don’t let the blues get to you.
-Bel Ejarque
Mouth of the River 
Leave a Reply