Flourish - Latest Edition - Flipbook - Page 31
You may know the moment when Sunday stops feeling like part of
the weekend. Your attention drifts towards Monday, un昀椀nished tasks
feel more urgent and you 昀椀nd yourself checking messages or mentally
preparing for conversations that have not happened yet.
Commonly known as
the “Sunday Scaries”,
this feeling is more than
everyday stress. It is a
speci昀椀c nervous-system
state called sustained
anticipatory anxiety.
Unlike acute fear or
panic, which responds
to an immediate threat,
anticipatory anxiety
is driven by what may
happen next and runs on
different brain circuitry.
The intensity of the
anxiety often re昀氀ects
how much about Monday
remains unknown, rather
than how full your
schedule is. A busy but
clearly mapped-out week
can feel more manageable
than a light one with a
single unresolved issue
hanging over it.
Recognising what is
happening is the 昀椀rst
intervention. When
you understand that
your nervous system is
responding to uncertainty,
rather than interpreting
the feeling as a personal
failing or evidence that
something is wrong with
you, you can begin to
regain a sense of control.
Understanding why a
strategy may help also
makes it easier to use than
simply being told to relax
or put your phone away.
There is an important
difference between
uncertainty-driven anxiety
and dread with a known
cause. If you feel anxious
because you do not know
what Monday will bring,
the strategies below may
help. If you already know
you are returning to a
job, manager, workload
or team that is genuinely
wrong for you, nervoussystem tools may soften
the feeling but will not
resolve its source. That
requires addressing the
underlying situation.
Repeatedly checking work
messages can be a form
of reassurance-seeking.
It provides temporary
relief because it reduces
uncertainty, which is why
banning yourself from
checking may back昀椀re
if the behaviour is not
replaced. Over-planning
can serve the same
purpose. Mapping every
minute of Monday may
feel productive, but it can
become another attempt
to avoid uncertainty and
maintain the anxiety loop.
A useful reset is not
about forcing yourself
to relax or preparing for
every possible outcome.
It is about creating
enough structure to feel
supported while learning
to tolerate what cannot be
resolved tonight.
