Here it comes!

Those daylight savings time, dark at 4 p.m., Monday is a-knockin’ Sunday blues. I’ve seen a few compelling statistics online that confirmed my initial suspicions, and without putting too fine a point on it, many people suffer from it. And, there’s a good reason for this.

Many of our behavioral habits are actually emotional addictions. We unknowingly run the same patterns over and over again, and for a lot of us, the Sunday blues began as early as kindergarten or first grade when we were dealing with the separation anxiety associated with leaving the comfort of our parents’ care.

If that wasn’t traumatic enough, there was the shock of going from being the sole focus of our caregiver’s attention to the rank and file of being one of 30 other loud and weird strangers. It’s like an annoying virus that stays in our operating systems until we find effective ways of exorcising it.

Here are some practical tips that I have used myself for this low-level phenomenon:

Make a dinner date for Monday night.

This may sound a bit ridiculous and abnormal but, having done this almost accidentally, I can tell you with certainty that it works. If you are striking out on the dating front, invite a loving friend. If you have a long-term partner, that’s even better—it will give the both of you the opportunity to check in with each other at a particularly vulnerable part of the week. And of course, if you are fortunate enough to land that dream girl (or boy), Monday will be the day you are looking forward to, instead of dreading.

Reframe your thinking.

When we cultivate sadness at the coming of a new work week, many times we forget that life is really a “get to” and not a “have to.” There really is no guarantee that you are going to be alive tomorrow, so embrace that truth and keep it up front that life is a gift, and not a series of circumstances that are meant to bum you out.

We tend to process emotional information based on learned experience and habit. Essentially what this means, is that unless you resist your default settings, you could very well go through your entire life feeling the same feelings ad infinitum. This is why it is referred to as a “rut.” Get grateful and try on different emotions as soon as you feel the darkness creeping in.

Take a Sunday evening walk/jog/run.

One sure way to exacerbate the Sunday night blues is to sit in one place and simmer in a toxic stew of anxiety. Or even worse, scroll through Facebook while you are laying in your wet diaper of depression. Get out there and get moving!

Take it next level and bring Dr. Wayne Dyer or Tony Robbins in your earbuds. The old expression, “move a muscle, change a thought,” is not some useless cliche. It is the tried and true dealio. It works!

The bottom line is this: once you feel those unhelpful emotions start seeping into your cracks, do not hesitate to try one or all of these methods immediately.

The problem with the Sunday night blues, and in fact all other low-level depressive states, is when you allow them to ruminate incessantly in your mind. The longer you let that go on unchecked, the more profound it becomes, and the longer it will take to transform your emotional state.

Always try to keep in mind that the quality of our day to day life is equal to the quality of our emotional state. So manage yours like a boss and live the way you were meant to live—happy, joyous, and free!

Author: Billy Manas
Image: Holly Lay/Flickr
Editor: Lieselle Davidson
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