Three strategies to overcome dread and avoidance of a new week

Does this happen to you? You have a ripper weekend, jam-packed with adventure(s), excitement and joy bubbles, only to arrive at your Sunday afternoon and then, meh?

Does the arrival of Sunday night generate a sensation of reluctance, anxiety or even dread?

My clients tell me they dread Sundays and Monday mornings. Their complaints mirror that of mild allergic reactions! They report overthinking all the things. They overanalyse tasks or encounters. They tell me they experience shortness of breath with their panic!

Let’s combat that crap because next week isn’t here yet!

I was listening to Mel Robbins on an Instagram live the other day and she referred to this feeling as the Sunday Scaries! It’s an appropriate reference when you think about it.

Of course, we would all love to have longer weekends and sloth our lives away. But if you’re anything like me you’d soon get bored and seek creative stimulation.

Here are three things you can do to release, delete and let go of the Sunday scaries

✅ Let go of expectations of what will happen this coming week.

This type of thought process is based on the future-based time reference. You can’t change what hasn’t happened yet. Additionally, when we have negative thoughts about the future, it’s often linked to a fear of something unknown, unforeseen, or uncertain.

You don’t want to be entertaining negative thoughts. You certainly don’t want to be investing your mental energy and accidentally intending an experience you fear!

✅ Let go of expecting you will complete everything on your to-do list.

As one overachiever talking to another, let’s get this fact out in the open. It’s virtually impossible to tick everything off your to-do list. There I said it and the world didn’t implode!

If you’re getting ready to argue with me, let me ask you these qualifying questions

Just how hard would you have to flog yourself in order to get everything done?

• What do you really gain by ticking everything off the list this week other than fatigue?
• What do you fear happening if you don’t finish?
• Will you likely shame yourself or be unkind, or worse feel like a failure if you don’t finish?
• And frankly, why would you want to insert yourself into such a state of stress that you’re half dead once you’re finished??

Perhaps instead you could start to ask yourself, what could I do right now in this moment and stick with that single task until it’s finished?

Maybe you could tackle the hardest thing on your list? Perhaps you could smash out all the easy tiny things first?

Pick one strategy and try it this week.

✅ Create a positive mindset and focus on how you want to feel at the end of next week.

Take a few moments to picture in your mind what you want to feel and allow your imagination to create the sensory experience of how you will look, feel, hear or even taste Friday afternoon.

I invite you to activate your imagination and ask yourself the following:

• How might that feel in your body?
• What might you see (perhaps yourself ticking off all the things on your list)?
• What could you see yourself doing if you felt like you accomplished something rather than just surviving another week?

You can choose a calm approach to the week ahead. This choice shifts your mindset from a negative outlook to a positive one.

When you choose a calm approach you are creating opportunities to go with the flow and achieve more than you ever expected. When you are calm you can focus more readily on the task at hand.

When you are calm, your thoughts are clear and often concise. You tend not to wander off on tangents or get distracted. The problem-solving parts of your brain remain in solution orientation rather than survival.

This type of calm mindset allows you to be kind to yourself and slow down enough to listen to your body’s signals — when do you need to do more or perhaps when do you need to slow down and rest?

Resting isn’t a sign of weakness. You’re preparing the body and the mind to reset and recharge and become ready once more for another round of life experiences!

First published with Illumination, a Medium Publication. Click here this piece.

Need a taste of calm? Enjoy Karen’s latest freebie offer –click here.

Enjoy this program’s short presentation includes the experience of a meditative hypnotic recording to support resetting your calm.

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