Teacher Tips for the Sunday Night Blues

I truly believe that a teacher’s life is so rewarding and worth every minute of planning and hard work (I wouldn’t choose any other job), but it’s not easy. So it’s okay if you feel a little less than excited when Mondays arrive. The “Sunday Night Blues” are NORMAL even if you love what you do. But I’m here to give you my favorite teacher tips for beating the Sunday Night Blues. They have made all the difference for me and I hope they do the same for you!

*For even more teacher tips and how to create a playful learning environment in your classroom, be sure to join us in P.L.A.Y. (Playful Learning All Year)!

Teacher Tips for the Sunday Night Blues

I want to begin by reminding you that you can absolutely love your job and still feel like you are not ready for Monday. If only 3-day weekends were the norm. A girl can dream, right? But since that isn’t the case, I have started putting into place a few new routines. They have really helped me to feel refreshed and more prepared for starting the new week.

Here are my top 3 teacher tips to help you dive into Monday and beat the blues!

Tip #1 – Wind Down Early

Wind down early – easier said than done sometimes but this does not necessarily mean going to bed early. Rather, it can mean closing down the house, making sure you’re set for the morning, and spending some time doing something that you enjoy.

Every Sunday I pick my clothes and make my lunch for the next day. This means I am not rushing around in the morning. When these things are done it’s time to relax. For me, it is sitting down with a cup of tea, a snack, and watching an episode or two of the current show I’m binging with my husband.

Tip #2 – Turn Sunday into a FUNday

Every weekend I make it a point to save something special and fun to do for Sunday. This helps me to look forward to Sunday instead of immediately slipping into the blues when it arrives. It used to be that Fridays and Saturdays were the main days I looked forward to but now that’s changed!

Making Sunday a FUNday doesn’t have to be fancy. I like to go to lunch with a friend, have dinner with my family, or go for a nice walk with my energetic and attention-loving cat, Fitz!

Tip #3 – Make Monday Mornings EASY

This tip might be the hardest for me because I naturally like to plan ahead and inevitably end up worrying about the next week instead of just focusing on Monday. But that’s what I am trying to do now – stress less! Thinking and stressing about the following week as soon as I leave work on Friday does not help my mindset or help me to be more prepared and productive come Monday morning.

So I have been trying to focus on just the beginning of my week by making Monday mornings as easy as possible. I can have my teacher bag packed (who doesn’t have a teacher bag by the door? I’m jealous!) and my Monday lessons ready to go so that I am sure to feel prepared and less stressed when I walk into my classroom and when my students arrive.

Beating the Sunday Night Blues begins with giving ourselves a little grace. As teachers, we work hard and deserve for our weekends to be a time of relaxing and recharging. Just remember that it is totally okay to wish the weekend was longer or to get mad at the alarm clock in the morning. But I hope these teacher tips will help you like they have helped me to feel ready to rock my Mondays… as soon as the coffee kicks in!