The Teacher Burnout Podcast

Conquering the Sunday Scaries as a Teacher
[00:00:00] In today's episode, I want to talk about conquering the Sunday scaries as a teacher. That's all coming up next right here on the teacher burnout podcast. Stay tuned.
Speaker: Welcome to the Teacher Burnout Podcast, where we explore the challenges of burnout for teachers and share practical strategies to support teacher well being. I'm your host Barb Flowers. If you're a teacher looking for ways to prevent burnout or an educational leader searching for strategies to support your team, this podcast is for you.
Let's dive in.
Welcome back to the podcast today. We are talking about the Sunday scaries and I really actually hate the term, the Sunday scaries.
I just, that's what people call it. And I see it called so often, but I just think it's a weird term to think of Sunday as so scary, but I guess that's really how people personalize the experience and feel. , I've also heard, , the Sunday jitters, the Sunday night blues. Whatever you call it, it's basically [00:01:00] that feeling that we get when we're stressed about going to work the next day and, I think we've all experienced some of this with the Sunday scaries as teachers, and I've experienced this as a teacher, as a principal, you get excited for the weekend and the weekends are so short, we work five days and then those two days fly by.
And so it can be easy for that to happen where you start worrying about going back to work, or maybe you're even the worst is when you have a situation on Friday that wasn't handled properly or you didn't get closure and then you're thinking about it all weekend and you're just dreading going and dealing with it on Monday.
That could be something causing the Sunday scaries, but I just want to normalize that these feelings do happen. And I, like I said, I think it's from having just those two days on the weekends and not feeling like you have enough time to rest and reset. But I wanted to share. , some tips for understanding the Sunday scaries, and then some practical strategies for how to deal with those.
, really what happens on the weekends is our brain [00:02:00] starts to tell us stories about how hard the upcoming week is going to be. And I noticed that my brain would do this a lot. I like talking about my brain like it's a separate thing, right? Because our brain is meant to protect us and it can do things that we don't necessarily control or want it to do.
But our brain starts to tell us stories about how hard the upcoming week is going to be. And a lot of times, what I have found in my personal experience is those things that it told me how hard the week is going to be were extreme cases. It was like extreme student cases I dealt with or extreme discipline cases that weren't the day to day experience, but they were really hard when they happen.
And I was just dreading those things happening. And so my brain would start to tell me all the evidence of why this could happen. It's a full moon. , , two weeks before spring break. It's just whatever time of the year it is. I start to think of , all the negative things about the job and I fuel those negative thoughts.
And one thing I want to [00:03:00] remind you , is our lives are 50 50 of good and bad. This is something we talk about in the coaching world of life coaching because It's part of the human experience, right? I think often we get stuck in this idea that life is supposed to be great all the time. And I think part of this is the Instagram culture where, , people show themselves traveling and living this life where they're just always traveling and doing everything that they want to do all the time.
And one, I would say that's not normal. That's not the normal human experience. We want to feel sad when sad things happen. We want to feel happy when happy things happen, right? And seeing people who live these lives that they say are perfect or are their dream lives exactly what they want does not mean that they don't have problems and things come up that they don't want to deal with.
That's not on social media. So that's one thing I want to address is that we have to know our lives are going to be 50, 50, everybody's life is 50, 50. Even if you only see the 50, that's amazing, everybody [00:04:00] has the 50 that's bad or the 50 that's challenging. So just remember that. And remember that if we have an emotion, we want to make sure to feel that emotion and then move on.
We don't want to, , not acknowledge the emotion. So, for example, if you're feeling anxious about going to work, you're feeling those Sunday scaries where you're worrying about all the things that are going to happen. You want to allow yourself to feel that. Think about why you're feeling that. What is that feeling in your body?
And just sit with that. And then you can move on from that. If you never let yourself feel that, then you're really suppressing emotion. So that's another thing I just want to bring up is we have to acknowledge that we are having those anxious thoughts about going back to work, and then eventually they'll pass.
Okay. You either have to work through them through some different exercises, which we'll talk a little bit about things that you can do, but or they'll pass. So those are just some things to keep in mind. , but again, our brain really will start telling stories about how hard the week's going to be. And any [00:05:00] thought that our brain has, we can find evidence to support it.
So we could find evidence about how hard the week's going to be. You can think of all the times that teaching has been really hard. And find evidence for , that's gonna be easy. You could also start having the thought, this is gonna be an amazing week. I'm so excited for the week.
And then you could find evidence for that. Now, it might be a little bit more tricky to find evidence for how it's gonna be amazing and all the things you're excited for, but you always find evidence for every thought. So I want you to think about that as well. So the Sunday scaries really are just anxiety.
It's anxiety from overwhelm. Maybe you have too much going on. It's anxiety from uncertainty. Okay. So it's, what is this week going to bring? And anxiety is when we are not in the present moment, but we're trying to fix things that haven't happened yet. . So for example, we're thinking about our class misbehaving.
We're thinking about an upset parent. We're thinking about a lesson you have to teach or an evaluation that might go bad. [00:06:00] All these things you're thinking about that haven't even happened yet. But you're trying to fix things that haven't happened. You're trying to be proactive about it, right? And I just want to remind you that you don't need to think about the problems ahead of time.
You just need to take it day by day. , I would say hour by hour even, because the more we get stuck in this anxiety of thinking about the future of what we need to handle and what we need to fix The more stress we're going to become you want to focus on the present moment.
That's going to help you feel less stressed. Here are some practical strategies that really help with the Sunday scaries that I've used Over my career in education. So first It helps me to really prepare over the weekend. So having time for myself over the weekend to prepare for the week is huge.
When I was a teacher, what this looked like for me is I always picked one day that I liked to stay a little bit later if I needed to. And I always loved Fridays. Now I know most people are like, Fridays are the worst day to stay after. But that's [00:07:00] just what I liked. You can pick a day that works for you.
But I would stay on Fridays and make sure my classroom was cleaned up. Make sure all my stuff was planned for the week and I was ready to go. Okay. And that when I came in on Monday morning, I felt good. I felt like I was ready to teach. So you figure out what that is for you, but being prepared Monday morning and coming into your room, ready to go is going to be a good feeling.
, knowing what major events are coming up for that week. My principal on Fridays always sent out a Friday weekly notes, , where he had all the events coming up. I'd put them on my calendar. I had my plans done. I knew exactly what that week would look like. So knowing ahead of time, What that week looks like also in your personal life, making sure that you are taking time over the weekend to prep for the week ahead.
So this could be meal prepping your food for the week, planning out what you're going to wear for the week, , knowing what activities are going to happen after school.
I always have a calendar on my fridge that [00:08:00] has all of our family activities on it. And so I like to go through the week and think these are the days I have to stay after. These are the days my kids have sports or activities I have to pick them up from and know exactly what your week looks like ahead of time.
That helps reduce that anxiety. Also number two, create Sunday evening routines. So if you can have a calming evening routine, that's really going to help you feel ready for the week. Also going to bed early is going to set you up for success. , I know for me, if I don't have time on the weekends to really reset and relax, it messes up the week ahead.
And sometimes that happens as a parent, my kids have sports and activities and I can't control everything that's going on, but I do try to make some time for myself so that I can really relax and reset.
And part of that is making sure I set clear boundaries over the weekend and I'm not doing work or I'm not, , checking email. I'm not talking to colleagues because I know that a lot of colleagues do [00:09:00] group texting, which is awesome. It's fine if you're talking about other things, but if all weekend, everybody's texting you about, Things they're mad , about school or things going on at school.
You need to set that boundary. The other thing is parent communication. When I was a principal, I talked to teachers about this a lot. And I remember I had a teacher say, it happened that, you know, a parent message on Sunday, a stupid message. It wasn't even that big of a deal, but she's like, it pissed me off.
And it messed up my whole Sunday. And I get that, right? Like I totally get that, which is why I think we need to set boundaries on all work related communication. I think shut off your parent, , or mine messages, dojo, whatever you use so that you do not see those notifications on the weekend, because it's going to make you crazy.
Take email off your phone. Do not check it over the weekend because the more time you have to reset and relax, the better you're going to be going in on Monday. And then the other thing I like to do, my third tip is having Monday morning success plan. So plan to arrive a few minutes earlier, [00:10:00] have some quiet time to get set up, , set your priorities for the week.
Like what's going to happen this week? What will it look like? What do I need to get done? And have the week be as predictable as possible, but come into that. Just with that sense of calmness, not feeling rushed, not running in. As a mom, I always felt like when I got to work, it was actually calmer because mornings could be so chaotic with my kids.
So I would always get to my classroom , and kind of refresh. But I know there are definitely teachers who have their kids with them. And so that's a whole nother thing, but just having some sort of routine where you can calm yourself down as you get into your classroom. And then tip number four, create positive affirmations.
Your thoughts, create your emotions, which create your actions. So we can actually rewire our negative thoughts in the positive thoughts through intentional thought work and repetition. And really intentional thought work is just choosing a thought that you want to think and practicing it over and over.
So [00:11:00] if you have the negative thought, I'm anxious about the upcoming week. Neutralize it. Mondays are just another day in the calendar. Each week has its ups and downs. This one will pass like any other week. I trust in my ability to handle whatever comes my way.
This week is full of opportunities and possibilities. And I just wanted to share a couple positive affirmations that you could use in your classroom. My calm and confident teaching creates a welcoming space for my students. Each new week is a chance to grow, learn, and make my classroom even better than before.
I have the energy, wisdom, and capability to navigate this week successfully. Today I choose to focus on progress over perfection as I lead my classroom. I am ready to embrace the challenges and celebrate the victories that await me this week. My presence makes a positive difference in my school and I'm grateful for another week to serve.
So those are some [00:12:00] affirmations, , that you can use. I'll put them in the show notes as well, but use those if you're feeling anxious, if you have the Sunday scaries and you're like, I can't get out of this. You have to focus on your mindset. So just a summary of some key strategies, make sure you're preparing on the weekends for the week.
You have a Sunday evening routine that sets you up for success, a Monday morning success plan, and you create a positive affirmation. And if you want more help on working on your mindset and reframing your schedule, you could schedule a free consultation. I love helping people, , develop these positive affirmations.
I love to find out what's holding you back and help you, , and come up with a plan. And if you love the show, if you're listening on Apple, scroll down in your app and leave a review. Keep in mind, you have the power to shape your life according to the mindset you choose. I hope you have a great week and I'll see you back here next time. [00:13:00]