I Do Not Fear Mondays Anymore

Most of my life, I spent the majority of Sundays thinking about the upcoming Monday. I was anxious about the upcoming work week and thought that the weekend was way too short. But this changed in the last few months. In this blog article, I want to tell you why this is not the case anymore, so let’s dive in.

Why I Feared Mondays

If you read my other blog articles, you may know that I was not really a fan of school. I hated going there. I barely had any friends and didn’t really feel welcome. On the weekends, I spent my time playing video games—mostly World of Warcraft (sometimes I really miss the game). I didn’t want to go to school. So over the years, I developed some kind of overwhelming fear towards Mondays. I started to feel uncomfortable on Sundays when I thought about going back to school on Monday.

This feeling intensified over the years and sadly, when I finished school and started an apprenticeship, it didn’t go away. At first, in the new job, it was not that intense but it started creeping back after the first three months. There were times when I made up some stories about why I couldn’t go to work for several days, like being sick or some other excuse. Over the years, it only got worse. What started with these stories that I made up developed into some kind of psychological distortion. I actually started to feel sick on Sundays when I thought about Mondays—something like headaches, a sore throat, or even fever. Looking back now, I don’t know if I was just so good at pretending that I even believed myself or not.

It Got Better When…

This feeling got better when I started studying. As I mentioned in one of my last blog posts, I really enjoyed going to university—I didn’t feel anxious anymore and really looked forward to Mondays. The prospect of meeting my friends again and learning some new stuff made me feel good. I thought that hating Mondays was a thing of the past.

After I finished university and started my job as a Systems Engineer, the feeling came back. I must admit, it was not to the same extent as it was in school or during my apprenticeship. But, it came back. After around one year into the job, I recognized a shift in my thoughts. I was not enjoying work anymore like I used to. The number of calls with customers was increasing and I had to do more tasks that I didn’t like doing. With these changes, I felt more anxious.

Digging Deep

So I started investigating these feelings and as I stated above, I think they are related to my degree of dislike towards my job. The more I don’t like doing what I need to do at work, the more I start feeling anxious and overwhelmed towards Mondays.

Around that time, I started to dig more into the topic of programming and thought about shifting careers once more. So, seven months after these feelings started to occur again, I quit my job to pursue a new career path.

Enjoying The Job Solved My Problem

Fast forward another year now, and I haven’t had these feelings for a while. I shifted my career, became a web developer, and I think I finally found the work, or at least the area, that really makes me enjoy doing hard stuff in the long term. I am back to my feelings as they were during my bachelor studies. I look forward to Mondays. I look forward to sitting at my desk again and writing some code. Of course, there are some days where I would rather sit at home and chill, but most of the time I don’t have any problems anymore.

So this is my personal view on Mondays. I think, when you enjoy your job and think you are doing something great during work, you don’t have to be afraid of Mondays. For me, this solved my problem. I know that everyone is different and most people do not even have this problem or don’t care. Some people don’t have this relationship to work and do not let anything work-related too close to their mind. That is okay and totally valid. But I think, especially in the younger generations, people are really connected to their work and want to do something meaningful. They want to enjoy doing their job. I am the same. I need to work at least another 35 years so I do everything to make it as pleasant as possible for me. If that means shifting careers another time, I do not mind at all, to be honest. But let’s hope that this is not the case. Two career switches are enough and I want to start making some serious money now.

That’s it for today. I hope to see you in the next article. Have a nice week!