3 Things I do on Sunday evening to make my Monday less stressful !

Hello my dear friend ! Welcome back to yet another episode of Morning Cup of Sunshine podcast and a very warm welcome to those who just found me. If you are tuning in for the first time, I hope you find value in this episode and you stick around because I have a lot of fun and inspiring episodes lined up for all this summer. I am sure that you are going to love those a lot, to keep listening. Do you know, I had this episode planned for last week. I almost started recording it but then I switched the topic on the fly because I was not in a mood to talk about anything about productivity last week. It was such a busy but still refreshing week for me. I gained a complete new perspective. I have been reading a book on slow living for a while now. I am so eager to share with you all the new tips that I learned along the way but again this is not the episode for that. Today I want to talk about 3 very specific things that I do every single Sunday evening that help me start my Monday with the right attitude. But before I start talking about those three things I want to share my Happy Moment of the week with you.

Happy Moment of the week

This week, we went on a trail with kids. It was our first trail of the season. It was easy and quite fun. Kids rode their bikes the entire time and we walked or shall I say, literally jogged behind them. It was such beautiful weather and starting Saturday morning like this was just wonderful. I enjoy this outside time with kids. The trail had the canal on one side and it was such a breezy and cool Saturday morning. There were so many birds , listening to their tunes made this walk even more peaceful and beautiful. kids were having so much fun riding their bikes. Now we are also thinking of buying the bikes for both of us. Let’s see about that but for now we are enjoying going on trails with kids. This summer we are planning to go on more trails and hikes with kids. So, this is a great start. Alright, now it's your turn my friend. J If you are not listening to this episode while driving, then just close your eyes for a moment. Think of the moment that brought you joy, the small, trivial moment that brought a smile on your face. Try to relive that moment, cherish that memory. We tend to ignore these small moments easily but these small happy moments make our life beautiful, cherish them, treasure them and share them with us.

Alright, let’s get to today’s topic. Shall we? 3 things that I do on Sunday evening to make my Monday less stressful. Every single person has faced Monday blues in some shape or form. Whether you are working, stay at home, a parent, married, single, business owners, student, Monday blues are not new for anyone. Sometimes, those are severe. Sometimes, you are okay to face Monday. We all love weekends because we get a break from our bound routine and we can mostly do what pleases our mind on weekends. It is always difficult to start Monday after a weekend because in those two days you get used to a relaxed schedule and our inertia kicks in right on Sunday evening making it even harder to face Monday. Of course, if you are getting these Monday blues so severe that it makes it hard for you to get out of the bed on Monday morning or make you so stressed out that it is hard for you to even think about anything else but work then it is time to do some serious reflection. If you love what you do in your job or on Monday then you will not have such severe Monday blues. But if you feel stressed, sluggish and already drained out every single Monday, it might be because you are undervalued, unsatisfied at your job. Monday blues should not be a constant feeling, if it is more than just a passing phase of tiredness then it is time to think about it more seriously. But are there ways to at least make this feeling less awful? Are there ways to make Monday less stressful? I think, yes there are ways, I have some very simple three ways that can make your Monday less stressful. Let’s find them out in this episode. Shall we?

Schedule something Exciting

We all love weekends because we know, we have something fun, exciting planned for the weekend. It might not be something extravagant but even a simple couple of hour road trip through the woods or nice gathering of a couple of friends over tea time or as simple as sleeping in till late. Those are the simple moments of joy that we look forward to each weekend. Somehow we think that all the fun and excitement is scheduled for the weekend and all the boring, mundane tasks are to be done during the week. Since Monday is the beginning of the week, we have not even started with our long to-do list and it feels overwhelming to even think about it. I used to feel exactly the same way, every Sunday evening. I used to feel as if all the fun and excitement was about to end and I had to go on with the week just to earn my reward of a fun filled weekend. You need something to look forward to even on Mondays. Try to build some personal joyful moments and reserve that for Monday. It can be small things like, schedule your favorite workout class every Monday evening or maybe plan something special, a quick walk with your friends or have a phone conversation with your best friend. Now that the weather is warming up, maybe have a picnic dinner in your backyard. When I was deciding on a day to release my podcast episodes, I was debating should I do it on Weekends? But then I decided to publish my episodes on Monday. I am so excited to wake up every Monday morning and see a new episode published. It gave some extra flare to my Mondays. I have a reason to look forward to Monday now. I love seeing your response to each new episode and it makes my heart full. I am now grateful for Monday. It gave my Monday a purpose. Find your Monday’s purpose. It doesn’t have to be big. Try to schedule that in your Monday. One of my friends always does a Takeout on Monday. Instead of ordering your food on Weekends when you actually have time and energy to cook, she orders food from outside on Mondays. It relieves the pressure of cooking on the busiest night of the week. Try to find one thing that makes you happy, less stressed and intentionally schedule that in your day, especially on Mondays. Mondays are symbolic to new beginnings. You can turn your Monday into a special day by making little changes to it. I understand, the anxiety of getting back into routine, facing the rush of the hour is real and very challenging and stressful. But the greatest weapon against the stress is our ability to choose one thought over another. So, choose your thoughts wisely and that is exactly my next point.

Set the Tone

It happens with almost all of us. We spend a fun weekend seeing family and friends, maybe doing some fun activities that you love. Sometimes we get physically exhausted from spending the weekend doing hikes or working in your yard. Your body needs time to rest and reset. We have all good intentions to start the Monday with a fresh Mindset but in reality we are totally wiped. I think Sunday evening is the best time to do some groundwork for the upcoming week. As I always say don’t fill your schedule to the brim on weekdays, same applies for the weekends as well. Don’t fill your weekends so much that the aftereffects of the weekend spill into your upcoming week. Always try to keep your Sunday evening free to rest, reset and recharge. Slow down and reflect on your week. Check in with yourself. How are you feeling? Are you well rested? Are you feeling calm and peaceful? Give closure to your weekend with some routine. Take a long hot bath and calm your nerves. Self care is the great way to feel loved, appreciated. Take some time out to pamper yourself on Sunday evening. These are simple ways and they do not need any luxurious or extravagant preparation. Just take extra time to drink your afternoon tea or coffee, relax, read a book and drink your coffee more mindfully. Take time to feel the warmth of the cup, taste of each sip. Assure yourself that you are loved and you are appreciated on every single day of the week. Reserve some time for meditation and workout, especially on Sunday evenings. Sometimes in the rush of doing fun things on weekends, workouts tend to take a backseat. But intentionally schedule time to workout on Sunday evening. Every time, you workout, you release the happy hormones called endorphins. A nice long workout session helps you build the momentum for the upcoming week, It helps you set the tone for the upcoming week. Meditation is another great way to ease into the upcoming week. I have slowly become an advocate of Manifestation meditation, I have been doing this 10 minute manifestation meditation for days now. It boosts my mood so much. Every time, I sit down and close my eyes for my meditation practice, it transforms my mood in just 10 minutes. I feel centered and grounded. I feel grateful for things I have in my life. Gratitude is the one key feeling that you should hold onto when you are starting a new week. I am grateful that I am getting an opportunity to start fresh. I am grateful that I have the home, loving family and friends, good health to enjoy my week with. I am grateful for the opportunity to work in a job that I love. There are so many things that we should be grateful for and we will find those if we look for them. There are so many people struggling with basic needs, there is still the danger of pandemic looming over so many people. There are greater struggles in life than Monday blues and when we start to look at our struggles from this perspective, then they look trivial and easy to resolve. All this can be noticed, felt and internalized if we just calm the chaos in our head and just breath, take an inventory of our feelings. The best thing to ease into the new week is to make Sunday evening as pleasant as possible, use some self care rituals, meditate , journal, workout. Pick your favorite things and end your weekend with the happiest feeling.

Set intentions

Another thing that I like to do every Sunday evening is to set the goal for the week. You know me, I am a very goal oriented person. Goals challenge me and I love some good challenges. I love to pick some goal that can be achieved in the next 5 days. Of course, don’t pick a huge goal like writing a book but yes you can break it down to chunks. Set the goal for this week as to write 5 pages or one chapter in this week. I think a retrospective and prospective overview of your week is very important. It is the practice that will help you find the space for what has happened and what is going to happen. It definitely improves your focus towards your goal. Pay extra attention to your thoughts and feelings. See what excites you to start the week, set that as a goal. It could be as simple as creating a new recipe that you want to try. It takes just one intention to set the tone of your week. I am not asking you to make a huge list here. Just think about one thing that you want to work on this week. It could be cleaning your closet or completing that one small course or working on your outdoor garden. Just one small thing, set the intention to complete that one thing. This will motivate you to take the inspired action. In turn, when the next weekend rolls around and you sit to retrospect the past week, you will feel accomplished. It will help you boost your spirits for the next week.

These are three simple things, scheduling something exciting, setting the tone by spending a relaxing Sunday evening and setting the intentions by picking one small goal to work on. You can conquer the upcoming week. I just want to give you a quick reminder for your Monday morning. You are powerful, you are strong, you are capable of conquering this Monday, you are worth this beautiful week. You are efficient enough to achieve anything that you are willing to work for. You are amazing as always. Today be courageous, be calm, have faith in your abilities and move forward. Happy Monday guys !! May the beginning of the week be the beginning of many good things !!