August 2, 2019
The Sunday Night Scaries
Even if you’ve never heard the terms, Sunday Night Blues, Sunday Night Dread, or Sunday Time Terror, you already know exactly what we are speaking of – and in the last decade social media has only exacerbated these anxiety filled feelings. Seeing images of friends, acquaintances, or even random strangers poolside on a Sunday evening sipping wine, biking in the wilderness, or dining on an outdoor patio on a European vacation can make even the most optimistic employee chock-full with envy and possibly even regret.
These feelings are relatable to almost everyone, even if you enjoy your job. Sunday Night Blues are a real thing and new research from The Sleep Judge(an organization that helps people get a good night’s sleep) showed that an astonishing 81 percent of the workforce answered yes to the following question” “Do you experience elevated anxiety on Sunday in anticipation of Monday?”, Scott Mautz, author of ‘Find the Fire’ and ‘Make it Matter’
This research also indicated that this feeling starts out light Sunday morning, then accumulates throughout the day which may eventually lead to irritability, apprehension, and even restless sleep. While one would deduce that these feelings are only aligned with someone who has a poor relationship with a boss; unpredictably, those who reported having a positive relationship with their manager described having even higher anxiety than those who reported having a negative relationship, with a difference of 5% higher. While this may seem counterintuitive, the study concluded that a good working relationship with a manager is often correlated with the need to please, adding up to additional work and significantly higher expectations; leaving one to feel as if the weight of the team or project lies on their shoulders.
The study also found that profession has little to do with variation in these feelings with those in education feeling the highest levels of angst followed by legal, finance, sales, and marketing. Another surprise from the study was that those who work remotely reported significant rates of these feelings associated with isolation and often times longer hours than those who work in a traditional setting.
Recognizing and being mindful of what these thoughts mean and are trying to tell you can be the key to deciphering or diverting them all together. Do you have unrealistic expectations of yourself? Are you someone who might require more or less feedback than what you are currently getting? Thinking about a career change? More family time? Or could it be that you might be fixating on a “grass is greener” notion without even knowing it? Pay attention to these feelings and work to find the root cause. It may be that find yourself in the wrong cultural fit or it could be a simple as realizing an amazing weekend has come to a close. Sometimes we subconsciously assign meaning where there is none to be had. Other times, we may not be mindful enough to connect those dots.
In an effort to look for what our workplace feelings mean, a simple answer may lie in taking that way overdue break from our phones, emails and yes, social media. Warren Buffet was recently quoted in Forbes magazine about millennial mindsets sounding the workplace. His advice for this distinctive group which can really extend to anyone, “Offline is the new wealth and luxury”.
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