Sunday Malaise (2015)

> Many people have shared with me their contempt for Sundays, and there seems to be no shortage of psychiatric literature referring to a “Sunday neurosis” or a feeling of gloom related to the day.

Oh, can relate. Work’s the next day, of course it’s a downer. You spent yesterday catching up on necessary stuff you’d deferred in favor of work for five days straight, so didn’t really have an actual break, and now your momentary breather has another damn work day following it, so you feel like starting anything you actually want to do is pointless. You dread night because you’ll be waking too early to the alarm clock. Yeah, it sucks, there’s a reason some cultures have the attitude that anything short of a week isn’t a real break from work.

"In the end, it was Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness that starts to set in at about 2:55 when you know you've taken all the baths you can usefully take that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the newspaper you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the Long Dark Teatime of the Soul." -- Douglas Adams

> In a sense, a person is given too much freedom on Sundays and this lack of control can produce anxiety.

I feel this in a very specific way. It's not that I don't have anything to do, it's that there are so many options. There are so many things I want to do on my days off that I get overwhelmed and spend the day thinking which one of my projects to tackle.

In the end I usually just pass the time and not do anything constructive.

Is this the same thing as "sunday scaries"? That is a much more commonly used term: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=s...

This happens to me when I’m away at a convention or some vacation, and then the last two days arrive. For several days, one has no thoughts of home, nor travel arrangements, nor often, of driving. And then the day comes when you have to clear out of your hotel room, and attend sessions while the staff are trying to stack up the chairs. And then someone plays some airs on a bagpipe (YMMV).

Or on a cruise, on embarkation day, when you are just getting accustomed to relaxing, and they put the Port Valet [1] form in front of you, bringing to mind all the chaos of disembarkation and airline travel.

One must enthuse as much as possible when the days are good.

[1] You put your packed bags out for baggage handlers on the last night and you expect to see them at your destination’s baggage carousel.

Got drunk yesterday and had some good food. No complaints.

Note that Sunday neurosis described in the article (perceived lack of purpose) is very different from the more common Sunday blues (another work week ahead...).

As for the latter, I remember that during the time when I had 4-day week (I work in an European country where parents of children up to certain age can ask for a reduction of their workload and their employer can't refuse it) the Sunday blues was practically nonexistent: I just had two days of work, then free Wednesday to ply with my daughter, and then two more work days that I really enjoyed.

Laying around in bed listening to Brahms doesn't sound like a half bad way to spend a Sunday. I might try that this week.