The sadness and anxiety that seize us with the inactivity of Sunday. So the Sunday Blues forces us to look in the mirror
If you love your job or have Mondays off, Sunday afternoons can become unbearable. Sadness, anguish, fear and guilt overwhelm us without apparent sense, in front of our own impotence and to our discomfort; a phenomenon that can already begin at school and reach its peak in the professional phase. Apparently, “the lack of activity on this day breeds an excess of anxious reflections. It works like a post-holiday microsyndrome in which our body is present but our mind is already oriented towards tomorrow, experiencing one of the most recurring sensations of the famous Sunday blues, anticipatory anxiety“, he begins Lua Baños, by Mundopsychologists.com. A phenomenon, this, much more common than you think.
A grey, strange and unproductive day
How is it possible that this fragment of a weekend is more difficult than a Monday morning? Apparently precisely because it guarantees us the (true) free time. “The working week is defined by a strict organization of tasks: getting up at the same time, work, shopping, gym, Netflix and going to sleep. Saturday is generally a day dedicated to active rest, making plans with friends/partners/family. But on Sundays, especially for those who live alone, it is marked by inactivity: empty streets, closed shops…”. A situation that is amplified “if you are one of those who live stuck to a punctuated weekly programme, because Sunday comes to interrupt it: a grey, strange and unproductive day”, explain da Mundopsychologists.com.
On the other hand, Sunday afternoon forces us to face ourselves. “That moment works as one mirror that reflects ours dark side, something that goes unnoticed during the week. Thoughts become distorted and lead to melancholy about the past or anxiety about the future,” explains Baños, who identifies a deep sadness that increases as the evening progresses as the most characteristic symptom.
This feeling of worry, anxiety, fear, Jonathan Abramowitza clinical psychologist and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, describes it psychologically as “a response to the perception of some kind of threat. The threat perceived can be that of getting up early, being busy or feeling lonely,” he explains.
Working on a Monday isn’t the only cause
Lua Baños points out that these Sunday fears they used to be linked to a toxic job, financial stress or daily responsibilities, but, he adds, ‘they have been found to be rather vague fears, with no case history. New York Times in fact published an article on the collapse on Sunday in which he indicated as possible causes achange in internal body clock, hangover, anxiety about work or worry about being alone“.
Do you feel sad and anxious on Sundays? How to overcome the Sunday Blues with advice from psychologists
