It’s Sunday night, and Saanvi Boinepally, senior, looks at the blank homework on her desk as her anxiety grows.
“On Saturday, my mindset is ‘I have a whole other day for this,’ and then it gets to the next day and I do the same thing I did on Saturday,” Boinepally said.
Boinepally is one of many who experience feelings of dread at the end of the weekend. Known as Sunday Scaries, this sensation makes people feel scared about the start of their week.
Boinepally said these feelings are bad for her because she tends to procrastinate.
“You go through the five stages of grief during the Sunday Scaries,” Boinepally said. “Denial, anger, acceptance that I’m going to walk into that test on Monday and just do the best I can.”
Ashley Hobbs, AP psychology teacher, said she likes to find things she is looking forward to in her week to cope with her Sunday Scaries.
“I try to make a to-do list or look at my calendar and try to purposefully look at the good things that I have going on during the week to make it seem less scary,” Hobbs said.
For example, Hobbs said she is planning on making a scrapbook with her daughter, Sophie, of a trip to Europe they went on over the summer. She is also excited for her book club on Thursdays.
Hobbs said Sunday Scaries come from anticipating what’s to come in the week and putting a negative label on it. She suggests building in free time to help with this anxiety.
“In the United States, we tend to pack our schedules and we feel lazy or unproductive if we don’t have something to do everyday, but sort of that having to do something every day stresses us out,” Hobbs said. “Taking care of ourselves, like our mental well-being, our physical well-being is just as important as getting our homework done.”
Ultimately, having a positive mindset can make Sunday Scaries less scary, Hobbs said.
“Like anything, it is about your outlook, your perspective, your frame of mind,” Hobbs said. “So while it’s okay to be sad that the weekend is over, it doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
Ruqayah Adil, freshman, agrees.
“I mean, there’s not anything I can do about it,” Adil said. “I’m still going to school, I just deal with it.”
Adil said her Sunday Scaries kick in right before she goes to bed on Sunday.
“Having to get into the routine of more homework and classes, and sometimes you just don’t want to deal with people on Mondays,” Adil said.
Mondays also bring stress, Malachi Tuggles, senior, said.
“It’s a lot of pressure going on, starting the week,” Tuggles said.
Tuggles said his Sunday Scaries come at random times on Sunday, but the mornings are the worst.
“I hate waking up and I see it’s Sunday because I know it’s time to go to school the next day,” Tuggles said.
