#and it feels like this blog is steadily grinding to a halt like all my others

[alia15]

Don’t Let Sunday Ruin Your Monday

I talked about this in an earlier post, but I have a love/hate relationship with Sundays.  Sure, they’re very much a part of the much-anticipated weekend but let’s be real: they’re still a “school night.”  Sundays, especially in the summer, can be fun-filled and chock full of debauchery... until you realize:

“OH SHIT; I HAVE WORK TOMORROW.”

And just like that, the party’s over.  The fun comes to a screeching halt.

A popular bro site coined the phrase, “Don’t let Monday ruin your Sunday,” essentially saying you gotta take a YOLO approach to your Funday plans and basically say screw work and responsibilities! and go balls to the wall.  

But... I’m here to tell you the opposite.  I’m here to alter the phrase and make it all lame and adult-like:

Don’t let Sunday ruin your Monday.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day, and I was coming off the heels of a few days off from work.  We had a great day lounging at my uncle’s house in gorgeous weather, sitting poolside and eating & drinking like kings.  But I looked at the time at one point and thought, uh oh.  By the time I get home it’s gonna be like 9pm.

That’s fine, except I’d enjoyed my four days off and while I was productive and got things done -- I didn’t do my usual  “Sunday stuff.”  I hadn’t cleaned my apartment.  I hadn’t food shopped.  I skipped laundry.  And immediately I went into panic mode.

I was about to start the week off on the absolute WRONG foot.  I was about to let my Sunday (and lack of doing anything to prep for my workweek) ruin my Monday.

And sure enough, it did.  Last week I felt off.   I had to order dinner out every night because my refrigerator was empty.  My apartment wasn’t up to par with how I normally keep it.  I was exceptionally tired because I ended up coming home from my uncle’s Sunday night and staying up way too late. 

My point?  Taking care of important (albeit kind of daunting) things on Sunday is going to guarantee you start the fresh new week RIGHT.   Here are some Sunday tasks you can do to ensure you don’t ruin your Monday and subsequent work week:

Food shop/meal prep.  If you’re anything like me and HATE doing this, you will do anything to avoid this dreaded task.  But any Sunday I fill my fridge with dinners for the week and prep my meals I feel WAY more healthy and organized.  Besides, I’m not getting home from work and commuting at 8pm and scrambling to figure out dinner every night (and then waiting for the sushi delivery guy, who I’m best friends with at this point).

Clean.  Do a good cleaning.  Change the sheets on your bed.  Throw in a load of laundry.  It ain’t fun, but you’ll appreciate coming home from a long work day during the week and not having to think about it.

Unwind.  I love to go out on Sundays: brunch with friends, seeing family, hitting up the beach, etc.   But getting home super late on a Sunday means I don’t have any time to decompress and relax before heading back to the grind.  Try to get home early and take a shower, throw on some Netflix and enjoy some peaceful hours before that dreaded alarm clock goes off.  Also, taking a shower and getting into those fresh new sheets you put on your bed?  SEXUAL.

Be prepared.  Check your schedule for the week -- do you have a big meeting on Monday morning you likely forgot about?  Instead of walking into work and being completely blindsided by your schedule, check it in advance the night before.  Clean out some work emails.  See if you have any weeknight plans (work or otherwise) you made it advance and might not remember. [Um, in related news: I totally forgot I have a dentist appointment at 9am tomorrow: thankfully I set an alarm to remind myself tonight]

MAKE SURE YOUR ALARM IS SET.  Is there anything worse than oversleeping on a MONDAY?!  Way to start the week off in a complete craptastic way; just frantically running out of bed and around your house like a chicken with its head cut off, simply because your alarm wasn’t set.  Better check that, fools.

And lastly, for my fellow bloggers/writers:

Do some writing/blog stuff.  Welp, in case ya haven’t noticed, things have been super quiet around here on ‘AA.’  Why?  Because I haven’t practiced what I’m currently preaching.  I’ve not touched anything blog-related on the weekend, and I haven’t had time to during the week, either.  When I am continuously and steadily updating here, it’s likely because I am using my weekends (yep, you guessed it, Sundays) to write and then I schedule posts to go up throughout the week.  Doing that means I don’t have to stress about it Monday through Friday and can spend any free time I DO have promoting and reading other people’s stuff.  Win!

There ya have it.  I know SUNDAY FUNDAY is popular around these parts, but when your Sunday ruins your Monday?  Well, ain’t nothin fun about that. 

How do you prep for your work week?