Do you suffer from the Sunday night blues?

Maybe you are lucky enough to have a job that you love and look forward to going back to work. Perhaps your children have exhausted you to the point that you are secretly looking forward to sitting on the morning commute. For many, however, Sunday night is a reminder that a five-day stretch of work is about to begin. The daily commute, the long meetings that you dread each week, traffic jams and exhaustion – work can be challenging in many ways.

How can we banish the Sunday blues? Sunday night may be the time when you end up daydreaming about leaving your job, a total career change or selling up and travelling round the world. The reality is that for most of us we cannot sell up and travel for the rest of our lives so how can we make our Sunday nights better? What can we do to change how we feel?

Play to your strengths

Each person has their own reasons for having that feeling of dread that starts on a Sunday. It could be the job itself, not liking the person that you sit next to in the office, the train strike the following day or simply feeling tired and not being able to think positively. Whatever the cause, you can help yourself feel better by fostering a feeling that things are more or less under control. Clean clothes, healthy food in the fridge, meals planned – all of these things help make our days run more smoothly, which will in turn increase our happiness. Avoiding scheduling any meetings for first thing Monday morning is also a good idea.

Avoid the temptation to sit down on a Sunday and try to get ahead with work. No one can ever be that far ahead, and everyone needs a good break in their week to avoid burnout. There are enough other days to work hard. Embrace the Sunday night feeling. Meditate, practise yoga, have a hot bath and nurture yourself. Make Sunday a day to reflect and be kind to yourself.