The Sunday Creeps

Thinking About Monday When Out on Saturday

I’ve always called it the heebie-jeebies. That slow, creeping sense of dread that tiptoes in sometime Saturday afternoon — right after I’ve worked out, grabbed coffee with the family, and started to feel like I’ve got this whole relaxing weekend thing figured out.

These days, people call it the Sunday Scaries, Sunday Syndrome, pre-Monday anxiety, or even existential dread (bonus points if you sigh dramatically while pouring coffee). I’d love to hear what you call it.

Because whatever the name, I get it — hard.

Saturdays are golden. I move, I connect, I breathe. But by Sunday morning, the buzz starts. My brain starts swimming like a Greenland shark, slow and ancient, but always moving forward — and somehow headed right toward Monday. And like the real Greenland shark, I move through these dark waters with this eerie calm, even as the weight builds. We’re not fast, us sharks, but we don’t stop either.

Sometimes I try to dodge the feeling. Hopefully there is a Cubs game — the breeze, the crowd, the promise of distraction. But even there, with my wife by my side, my mind wanders. I’m staring at the field but thinking about invoicing for our business Tech Tonic, groceries, emails… even if the Cubs are up by two (which is rare, so you'd think I’d savor it).

It’s not that I hate work. I don’t. But at 60, I can think of about a hundred other ways to spend a work week. Like sitting poolside. Doing one of the many hobbies I want to get BACK into.

Hanging with my kids. Or just floating through a day without a to-do list circling.

And yeah, maybe I’ve always been like this. I remember in college studying Electrical Engineering, some of my friends could just shrug and say, “Yeah, whatever,” like life was a pass/fail class and stress was optional. I wish I had that gear.

My friend Chris, who’s retired now, says the best part is 4 PM on a Sunday — when you realize you never have to dread Monday again. That kind of freedom sounds like the deep, cold ocean where Greenland sharks live — slow, quiet, and totally peaceful.

Some folks say they need work for purpose. And hey, maybe that’s true for them. But me? I think I could find purpose just fine on a sunny day with a good book or a great album to listen to (I need to write soon on my cochlear implant progress.), and nowhere to be. Greenland sharks live over 400 years and don't seem to be in a rush to prove anything — maybe there’s something to that.

So I’m not trying to teach anything here. Just sharing what’s been swimming around my head. I’d love to know — what do you call that Sunday feeling? When does it hit you? And have you found a way to slow it down?

I’ll be the one at the game, trying to stay present, wearing my Greenland Sharks hat like armor… drifting just slow enough to notice the sun on my face before the week swirls back in.