How Teachers Can Kiss the Sunday Scaries Goodbye with Kelsey from Educate & Rejuvenate [episode 167]

Emily  0:37

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. We are so excited to have our friend Kelsey from the Educate and Rejuvenate podcast with us today to talk all about overcoming the Sunday scaries.

Heidi  0:52

Kelsey is a former teacher turned homeschool mom and certified life coach. We love her podcast, and she just released her first book titled Educate and Rejuvenate: A Three Step Guide to Revitalize Your Teaching, Renew Your Spirit and Reignite Your Passion for Life.

Emily  1:08

She is on a mission to help teachers have a healthier relationship with your role as an educator by rejuvenating yourself. We couldn’t think of anyone better to help us tackle the Sunday scaries today on the podcast.

Emily  1:22

So welcome Kelsey. We’re so excited to have you with us. Many educators experience the dreaded Sunday scaries. So Kelsey, can you explain to our listeners what are the Sunday scaries?

Kelsey Sorenson  1:37

Yes, thank you so much for this question. I’m so excited to be here and chat about the Sunday scaries, because they think it’s something that so many teachers feel often every week. And there is something we can do about it to make it better, right?

Kelsey Sorenson  1:53

But first, let’s look a little bit about what the Sunday scaries are. So I actually, while preparing for this podcast, I looked up the definition on Google, which is something I always love to do, and this is a definition from headspace, the popular meditation app, and what they had to say is the Sunday scaries, or Sunday blues, as they’re sometimes called, are feelings of anxiety or dread that happened the day before Heading back to work. According to a LinkedIn survey, 80% professionals say they experience the Sunday scaries, with over 90% millennials and Gen Z reporting that they feel it.

Kelsey Sorenson  2:30

And so for teachers, I really feel like this feeling is a lot of times we’re so worried about all the work we have to do, all the prep we haven’t done. Did we wrap up our week well enough? Are you thinking you’re behind already, before the week has even begun? And it’s the end of the time, like it’s the end of the weekend, right? Which is a lot of times where we pull back and take a bit more of a break and enjoy yourself a little bit.

Kelsey Sorenson  2:50

But then you’re like, oh, wait, this is about to end, right? And now I have to go back to work, and there’s so much to do, and you just feel the heaviness of it. And so when we say the Sunday scaries, or others might say the Sunday blues, that is what we’re talking about. We’re talking about that feeling that you feel on Sunday afternoon, Sunday night, when you’re like, Oh no, tomorrow is Monday, and just kind of this feeling of anxiety that is kind of bubbling up inside of you.

Heidi  3:17

That is such a good definition. And I have definitely felt that plenty of times in the past. The Sunday scaries are really kind of scary, but as you mentioned, they are just a feeling. So how do you think our mindset plays a role in creating the anxiety that we’re feeling on those Sunday nights?

Kelsey Sorenson  3:32

Yes, and you know, you know, because we’re friends, but I love this topic of our thoughts and our mindset and how they play a role in our feelings. So I use this tool called the self coaching model that is really going to help illustrate and explain this concept. It’s a tool that I learned in my life coaching certification that I also used and loved before, but then it got certified in using it as well.

Kelsey Sorenson  3:55

And what I love about it is it is science backed. It’s backed in cognitive behavioral therapy, but it’s put into this model that really anybody can use and understand. So what I want to do is kind of explain each part, everything falls into one of these five categories in the self coaching model. And then we’re going to look about where those Sunday scaries fits in the model.

Kelsey Sorenson  4:14

So there are five parts like I mentioned. There’s first our circumstances. Those are our neutral facts, just things that are happening in the world. We can’t control it right, completely out of our control, and there is nothing we can do about it, right? It’s just a circumstance. It just is, what is right, if we were gonna get really like Zen about it, it’s just is.

Kelsey Sorenson  4:36

Next part is our thoughts. That is our interpretation of circumstances and we have many thoughts in a day, our brain will serve these to us, and we don’t even notice every time we have a thought that would be crazy if we’re, oh, there’s a thought, there’s a thought, so our brain just takes them as fact. A lot of times we think our thoughts are circumstances just the way things are, but they are thoughts. They’re subjective. They have our lens and the way we see the world in them. So that is our thoughts, our perception of reality.

Kelsey Sorenson  5:08

And then our thoughts can cause feelings, right? So we have a certain thought, it can cause us to feel a certain way, having a certain emotion in our body, such as anxiety or dread when we’re leading up to the week. So as I mentioned, I mean, kind of gave it away already. They fall into the feelings line of the model.

Kelsey Sorenson  5:25

And then we feel a certain way we take certain actions. That’s the fourth part of the model. So we either do certain things and we don’t do other things. We look at both actions and inactions on the action line of the model.

Kelsey Sorenson  5:38

And then we see our results. Those just reveal themselves through our actions, the results that we see from what we do. Now, a lot of times we try to just change on the action line, for example, we might be like, Oh, I just don’t want to feel that anymore. I’m going to just try to push it away. Or, you know, I’m going to just try to do something different. But if we’re having the same thoughts and feelings, that’s the underlying, actual cause of what is going on, then we’re not going to be able to make changes.

Kelsey Sorenson  6:05

So I dive way more into this tool on Educate and Rejuvenate the podcast, and go really deep in my book, also called Educate and Rejuvenate. We rebranded this year, and basically everything is educate and rejuvenate now.

Kelsey Sorenson  6:17

But from what I’ve shared today, hopefully you can kind of see what I’m talking about, where Sunday scaries, they fall in that feelings, right? And so here’s what we know from the self coaching model. We know that when we feel this anxiety or dread, it’s not because it happens to be Sunday night, because I can tell you, there are some people who might feel excited about the next day, right? There’s probably a time where you were excited about maybe a new job or something new happening on Monday.

Kelsey Sorenson  6:41

So there’s something in between there, right? It’s our thought. It is our perception about Monday. Like, what are we thinking? Like, oh, I have so much to do, or, Oh, I really don’t want to go back to school tomorrow. There’s there’s something there.

Kelsey Sorenson  6:56

So an example might be like, the circumstance tomorrow is Monday, and you might be thinking, Oh, my time off is almost over, like I have to get back to work, like there’s so much to do. Any of those thoughts could go in there. You feel the Sunday scaries, that anxiety or dread, or however you would describe that sensation in your body of the Sunday scaries.

Kelsey Sorenson  7:15

What you might do then you might ruminate again. This is what we’re doing on Sunday night, right? While we’re thinking my time off is almost over, you might ruminate about the week to come and all the things that need to be done. You might make a to do list of all the things you need to do scroll on your phone to kind of try to avoid those negative emotions, kind of that Doom scrolling.

Kelsey Sorenson  7:33

Things you might not do is you may not be spending as much quality time with family because you’re mentally checked out. You don’t enjoy any other company you’re around. You are making to do lists and having anxiety and like ruminating instead of doing something you enjoy, right?

Kelsey Sorenson  7:47

So now the result of that is you are creating where you’re already checking out of your weekend early, right? You are ensuring that you’re not enjoying the time you still have left off, right? And I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with us doing this. So many of us do this on Sunday nights. We spend our Sunday nights worrying instead of enjoying our time.

Kelsey Sorenson  8:06

And it’s a signal of something, right? It’s just realizing, like, oh, like the fact that I’m thinking this, thought that my time off is almost over, or tomorrow’s Monday, and, you know, just reminding yourself of that and that has a negative connotation to you, you can see that there’s something there, and that’s something that we can then look at and be like, Well, what is it? What is it making my every day during the week so hard that I am dreading the weeks and Living for the weekend?

Kelsey Sorenson  8:32

So you might realize like, Okay, I understand why this is happening. I realize it’s normal. I’m having these feelings because I’m having these thoughts. But maybe you don’t want to keep feeling so bad about it. You want to be able to start enjoying your week more.

Kelsey Sorenson  8:45

So with the knowledge of this tool, of the self coaching model, we have so much power to realize that, oh, I have more control over this than I think. Because if we want to be like, I just have no control over this. Like, obviously we don’t have control over that tomorrow’s Monday or that, you know, it’s a Sunday night, but what we do have control over is our perception of it.

Kelsey Sorenson  9:03

And so over time, we can shift that perception. It’s not going to happen overnight, but we can make subtle changes that are going to help us enjoy our weeks more, that are then going to over time, slowly help those Sunday scaries simmer down.

Kelsey Sorenson  9:16

And I also have a tool, which I’ll make sure to share at some point in this episode, that’s going to help you have those feelings simmer down, even in the moment. We’ll go over that too. But the great news about the model is that it is our thoughts that create our feelings. So again, the Sunday scaries are created by those thoughts, whether intentional or not. It is often completely subconscious, but it is true.

Kelsey Sorenson  9:36

So when we accept this, we can, we can change something about it gives us that power. So we might want to just try to push them away and try to get rid of it. Like, I don’t want these feelings. But it’s when we realize, like, oh, wait, there is something I can do about this. I can process these emotions, and then I can see, like, what is it I can do to shift how I’m thinking, how I’m feeling about this in general.

Kelsey Sorenson  9:59

And that’s going to really help you over time to have those Sunday scaries simmer down. So the model really helps us see that connection between how our thoughts and our mindset impact whether or not we have the Sunday scaries, and to what extent and how over time, if we work on our mindset, how that can shift over time as well.

Emily  10:19

So what are some of those common things that teachers do when they’re feeling the Sunday scaries?

Kelsey Sorenson  10:26

Well, first, kind of like that example model I said a lot of times when we’re in that stress and overwhelm, we inadvertently actually kind of check out mentally of our weekend early so that is one of the big things that happens.

Kelsey Sorenson  10:38

And what also tends to be one of the reasons why is because we’re really trying to avoid those feelings, rather than leaning into them and acknowledging them. We’re like, we have this anxiety, we have this dread, but we don’t want to, so we try to push it away, and that doesn’t help.

Kelsey Sorenson  10:51

So the first thing we need to do that most of us don’t do is actually feel those emotions, recognizing them and that they’re normal, like they’re a part. All of us are going to feel them from time to time we all feel every emotion. We feel positive emotions, we feel negative emotions, and realizing that we can feel them, they’re not going to hurt us. They are sensations in our bodies.

Kelsey Sorenson  11:11

And when we really lean into it and offer ourselves some love and compassion, we can actually feel that feeling start to simmer down when we actually acknowledge it and we’re like, hey, Sunday scaries or anxiety or overwhelm or dread, whatever it is you’re feeling. I see you. I feel you, and it’s okay, you know. And just kind of noticing, what does that feel like in my body? What does it feel like in my heart? How is my jaw tight like, kind of doing a body scan from your head all the way down to your toes.

Kelsey Sorenson  11:37

And I’ll actually lead you through an exercise that help you process these emotions in our educate and rejuvenate app. So you can do this exercise, like, if you’re ever feeling the Sunday scaries, you can pull out the app and you can do this. It’s free on the educate and rejuvenate mobile app.

Kelsey Sorenson  11:51

But when you do this, rather than resisting the emotions, trying to push them away, or reacting and having like an outburst, or like doing things out of emotion, rather than, you know, checking in and seeing internally how that emotion feels, or avoiding emotions through Doom scrolling or retail therapy or drinking or overworking or scrolling on your phone or heading to your pantry and eating an Oreo or something, anything we do to avoid feeling our emotions.

Kelsey Sorenson  12:16

All those things we tend to do instead of actually feeling it. So if we can actually feel those emotions. It sounds crazy, because, right? No, I don’t want to feel anxiety, I don’t want to feel dread, I don’t want to feel overwhelmed, but by actually feeling and allowing them is what allows it to actually move through instead of being stuck in our bodies. So again, allowing that emotion, breathing it in, doing that exercise in the educate and rejuvenate mobile app will definitely help.

Emily  12:39

Yes, those are such good points. So what would you say to teachers who are worrying about the week ahead, like, how can they prepare in a way that reduces anxiety and helps them feel more in control of Monday?

Heidi  12:55

Such a great question. So a lot of times that dread comes from feeling unprepared or for just thinking about that looming To Do List running through your head, especially if it’s only in your head and on paper, Sunday afternoon and evening roll around and you’re just like, oh, like, I haven’t done this yet. You’re starting to mentally prepare. Like, oh, the things.

Kelsey Sorenson  13:13

And the thing like I mentioned. It’s a shame, because by this we are checking out of our weekend early. We aren’t actually enjoying that free time we still do have. We still might have a whole evening that we could be doing something we enjoy, that we could be reading a book, that we could be playing a game with our family or spending time with friends.

Kelsey Sorenson  13:28

So one thing that I found helpful, and have so many of my clients in the Educate & Rejuvenate Club I found helpful as well, is to prepare for the week ahead of time. And I actually have a full time management process that I talk about in the Educate & Rejuvenate book, which comes with a full workbook with all the printables you’ll need to do this and help walk you through it.

Kelsey Sorenson  13:45

And I also have a podcast episode called How to create an intentional schedule and actually stick to it completely free that you can listen to to hear the whole process, but I’ll give you a couple minute version right here.

Kelsey Sorenson  13:55

Essentially, if you want to be able to let your mind rest a bit more on the weekends, right? You don’t want to be thinking about that looming to do list and all the things to do. We want to prepare ahead of time.

Kelsey Sorenson  14:04

So one thing that I find really helpful is I really like to do this on Fridays, and I kind of switch from time to time, like, depending on my season of life when I’m going to do it. So the when actually doesn’t matter as much, but you pick a time that you do your weekly planning. It might be Friday afternoon before you leave that sometimes is the best time, depending on you personally to be able to really let it rest over the weekend.

Kelsey Sorenson  14:24

Maybe it’s Saturday morning, maybe it’s Sunday morning, maybe it’s Monday morning. I do find for teachers a lot of times that’s a little hectic, so it’s good to do it before that, but essentially you want to set aside about an hour to make your schedule. And a lot of teachers, like, wait, I have to set aside time to do that. Or, like, actually doing this process sounds overwhelming.

Kelsey Sorenson  14:41

Because what I ask you to do is write down everything your brain is telling you you need to do. And I have had multiple teachers before it be like that sounds way too overwhelming, like the thought of even writing it all down. But let me tell you, the reason that it sounds overwhelming is because it is all in their head.

Kelsey Sorenson  14:56

Imagine if it’s overwhelming, getting on a paper. Imagine your head, your brain thinking like, I can’t forget this. I don’t have it written down anywhere, so I cannot let you forget it. Writing it down is actually getting it on paper. It’s actually helping it get out of the overwhelm in your mind, onto paper, right? So you get it all down, everything your brain is telling you you need to do.

Kelsey Sorenson  15:14

And then you look at it and you question each thing you be like, do I actually need to do this? Does it need to be done by me? Does it actually need to be done next week? Or could it be done the week after or the week after or the week after that? A lot of times, we tend to overestimate how much we can do during a day or during a week, but underestimate how much we can do in a month or in a year, in a longer period of time, we think like all the things need to be done now.

Kelsey Sorenson  15:35

So instead, we need to just take that time to be more conscious and prioritize when to do what. So when you do this, you will then prioritize. You’ll be like, what’s urgent, what’s important. I have a whole there’s the matrix Stephen Covey put together that we use for this, and you’ll figure out where everything goes.

Kelsey Sorenson  15:54

And then you’ll put it in your calendar, and you’ll make sure that you leave appropriate amounts of times for everything. And then instead of just having this looming to do list you have a calendar of when you’re going to do what.

Kelsey Sorenson  16:03

And I also mentioned before, we also put in self care. We put in that time for leisure. We put in that time for things you enjoy, because that is what is going to keep you going. We need to make sure that we’re also filling up our own cups so we don’t burn out.

Kelsey Sorenson  16:15

I actually did a podcast episode recently. I hate the quote that says a good teacher is like a candle, it consumes itself to light the way for others. I hate that quote, because that is literally a recipe for burnout. If you’re like a candle and you just keep burning and burning and consuming yourself, we can’t do that.

Kelsey Sorenson  16:31

I actually posted about on Instagram, and somebody commented, they’re like, I like the idea of a lantern where you light the way for others, but it also gets to turn off. And I do like that, because, again, we do want to help our students, our co workers, our families, our spouses, partners, whoever. But we need to take care of ourselves in order to be our best self to help other people.

Kelsey Sorenson  16:50

So again, we need to make sure that we make that time. It doesn’t have to be crazy extensive, but I want you to work in some self care each day. And when you do intentional planning, you can totally you can totally do it. Trust me, no matter how busy you think you are, you can do it, because there are probably a lot of things you’re doing that aren’t as important as they actually are when you take the time to really consciously plan and really get in alignment with what is actually important.

Kelsey Sorenson  17:14

But what happens when you do this weekly planning and you kind of actually give each thing a time and figure out what is actually important, what is not is that your brain can rest a little bit. Now that you’ve got it all on paper, you’ve got it scheduled, your brain doesn’t need to store it as much. And then when it does come up, you get to redirect and remind yourself.

Kelsey Sorenson  17:34

You get to be like, No, remember, I’ve already got that in my planner, or even if you haven’t done the planning yet, no, remember, I’m going to do this planning tomorrow morning, and it’s gonna be totally fine until then. And once you get in the routine of doing that and that, you know you’re going to do this weekly planning, your brain will start realizing, like, okay, yeah, it’s safe to let these things go, because I am getting the things done.

Kelsey Sorenson  17:54

So it’s going to take some time to get to where it’s not ever bothering you at all, and really it won’t ever not bother you at all. It still does for me, but I’ve just seen drastic improvement. It took time to get to wherever you are today with your Sunday scaries, with your time management, with your stress, right? So it’ll take time to rewire those neural pathways, but it is worth it.

Heidi  18:14

Those are some great suggestions, Kelsey. One thing that I have found helpful is to have something small to look forward to on Monday, like a cup of hot chocolate before work, or listening to my favorite audiobook on my commute. What are some suggestions for ways teachers can add a little bit of joy to their work week?

Heidi  18:30

Yes, I find this so important. And kind of like I even talked about when we were just talking about the scheduling, is to make sure to put that time in, and also just having little things that you look forward to, that can even be while you’re doing other things.

Kelsey Sorenson  18:43

For example, like you you mentioned, like an audiobook, like a favorite audiobook. But what I to expand on that a little bit. It’s something that you only get to do during the week, so on the weekend, let’s say, for example, when you’re driving to and from school, you get to listen to this gripping audiobook, maybe a series that you love and you really want to find out what happens next, or something in, like, self care that really makes you feel good, like, maybe educate and rejuvenate the podcast, or something like it.

Kelsey Sorenson  19:06

Or, you know, the teacher approved podcast, you know, the great podcast that you get to listen to, you are like, I am doing this. This is my, what I get to do during my teacher commute. I get to listen to this. And if you’re listening to series and there’s like, a cliffhanger, it’ll, it’ll be like, you know, Sunday night and like, oh, tomorrow I get to listen to what happens next, you know. So you kind of have a little thing to look forward to.

Kelsey Sorenson  19:26

So again, there’s, like, the mindset work we can do about, like, our schedule and planning and also feeling the emotions, but also we can do things to actually make our brains look forward to. It more like, oh, I actually have something to look forward to tomorrow. It’s kind of like a mindset hack.

Kelsey Sorenson  19:38

Maybe you have, like, a little routine every Monday that you look forward to. Maybe you don’t get to pick up Starbucks every day on the way to work, but maybe every Monday you do that, or you even, like, go after school with one of your coworkers and do something fun, or you go for a walk, or, I don’t know, you have something on Monday, whatever works for you that you look forward to.

Kelsey Sorenson  19:58

There’s something on Monday that’s like, Oh, I get to do this. This is nice. You know, on Sunday, you get to actually look forward to that thing that you don’t get to do any other day of the week.

Kelsey Sorenson  20:06

Another thing you can do is look at your wins each day and see like and we I talked about this on an earlier episode. The first time you interviewed me for the teacher approved podcast. We talked about owning your wins. I would love for people to go back and revisit that interview we did together.

Kelsey Sorenson  20:21

Because doing that each day can help us realize, like, Oh, I’m doing a lot more than I think. So I can also let some things rest and enjoy the rest of my evening, like not be working all evening, right? Because remember, we don’t want to just live for the weekend. We want to live for the moments throughout the week too.

Emily  20:35

That is so true. Those small things can make a big difference in your excitement for Monday. Now, something Kelsey, I’ve heard you talk about, is balancing work and leisure. So how can teachers bring more of the leisure they enjoy on weekends into their weekdays to help lessen the Sunday scaries?

Kelsey Sorenson  20:55

Yes, this is such a good question, because it’s so easy not to have leisure like that’s the easier way to go. The path of least resistance is to not have leisure, because there’s enough we could do in teaching, with prep, with our own kids, if we have them, other responsibilities, other things people would like us to do, etc. There’s always more we could be doing.

Kelsey Sorenson  21:14

So it’s easier not to but that’s what leads us to burnout, right? So we need to be really conscious and make sure that we do make some time for leisure, for some things we enjoy. But a lot of times, what I find people think is they have kind of like all or nothing. Thinking about this, they’re like, I don’t have like hours of time for leisure. I can’t do like this much every day.

Kelsey Sorenson  21:32

But the thing is, it doesn’t always have to be long. Maybe there are certain days like, maybe on the days where you know, you teach all day, you have prep, you have meetings after school, maybe you run kids to gymnastics after or whatever, like maybe those days you’re not going to have, like, a huge stretch of time for self care, but it can be like five minutes, right?

Kelsey Sorenson  21:50

We even have a meditation in our educate and rejuvenate mobile app. That’s an example of this. It’s called your recess reset. It’s five minutes that you do during recess. If you download the Educate & Rejuvenate app, you’ll be able to try this meditation for free. I’ll give a link to put it in the show notes, but it can be the same way with like a book you want to read, or going on a quick walk, or instead of doom, scrolling on your phone sending a text to a friend who you want to connect with and haven’t chatted with for a while.

Kelsey Sorenson  22:14

If you have your own kids, finding things you actually enjoy doing with them after school so it doesn’t feel like, I work all day with other people’s kids, and I come home to my kids. Find something you enjoy to do with them and find things you enjoy to do with your students too. They also need some leisure. They also need breaks. So building something that’s enjoyable, not only for them, but for you too. Part of that weekly planning I talked about before is working in that time for self care and leisure however, it works for you.

Heidi  22:38

Yes, everyone needs more leisure. Now it seems like the Sunday scaries can be an indicator of, you know, deeper needs that aren’t being met. What can teachers learn about themselves by paying attention to what’s coming up with their anxieties?

Heidi  22:53

Yes, this is something that is so important to me in the work that I’ve been doing. And actually there’s a whole chapter in my book, Educate & Rejuvenate. It’s chapter six. It’s one of my favorite parts of the parts of the book. It’s called, What do you want? That’s the name of the chapter.

Kelsey Sorenson  23:05

And I actually talk about in the book, the notebook. I don’t know if you all remember the scene where Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling’s character, they’re like, having a fight, and he says to her, he’s like, What do you want? And she says, it’s not that simple. And he’s like, stop thinking about, I want, what your parents want, what he wants, what do you want? And she’s just like, it’s not that simple. And she like, can’t answer the question.

Kelsey Sorenson  23:27

And I find this to be such a true thing about so many of us who are in teaching, we do so much for everybody else. And how often I coach a client, and then I ask them a question, something that has to do with themselves, their feelings, what they want in life, and the answer is, I don’t know. And again, I’ve said that when I’ve been coached too, like I’m not immune to this, but so often we don’t actually know what we want, what we need.

Kelsey Sorenson  23:52

But really we do. It’s just deep in there that we haven’t taken the time to get in touch with it, because we’re so busy, busy, busy, we’re so go, go, go, all the time. And the real alchemy happens when we can get into that deep understanding of what we want, of what we need, because so often we don’t know.

Kelsey Sorenson  24:10

And so once we dive in deep, we see that the Sunday scaries are just a small piece of a much bigger puzzle, because there’s something about our regular weeks that doesn’t sit right with us. And for me, I thought like, oh, teaching is just so overwhelming. As soon as I quit teaching, then everything is going to be great. And you’ll hear, if you read my book, that that was not the case. In fact, it got even worse.

Kelsey Sorenson  24:32

It was more internal work that needed to be done than changing external circumstances. And this is why the model was so helpful to me, because again, we can’t change those external things, but we can do that internal work. We can see what our thoughts we’re having. We can tap into our feelings we haven’t really talked about in the nervous system on this episode, but that’s such a big piece of it, too.

Kelsey Sorenson  24:52

There’s so much internal work that we can do that is going to help us to enjoy teaching more, to revitalize our teaching, renew our spirit, and reignite our passion for life. And as I’ve gone through this process, I don’t get those Sunday scaries nearly as often. I won’t say I don’t ever get them, but I don’t get them nearly as often because I’m in more alignment with what I want and need. But it’s taken a lot of time to get there.

Kelsey Sorenson  25:13

The thing I love too is it’s not just me and my experience, because I know a lot of people are like, Oh, well, you’re out of the classroom now, but I work every single week with teachers who are in the classroom and have seen the changes that following these tools have made for them. And so I want you to have that too.

Kelsey Sorenson  25:28

So that is why I wrote this book. I wanted to make it very accessible to anybody to be able to really do that deep dive, that inner work. If you are brave enough to face it and do it, it is going to make such a difference in your life.

Kelsey Sorenson  25:41

So now that I’m off my soapbox, let’s talk about what we actually can do with the Sunday scaries to get curious about their needs and overwhelm. So here, here’s something you can try. You can identify what thoughts you were having that are causing you, because, again, we talked about that self coaching model. So there’s a circumstance, and then there’s the feelings, but there’s the thought in between, right or multiple thoughts you might be ruminating between that are causing you to feel those Sunday scaries.

Kelsey Sorenson  26:05

So what I want you to do is identify what those are. I want you to go in and maybe write what thoughts are you having about work on Sunday nights. What thoughts are you having about leisure and how much you have of it or lack thereof. What do you think about others expectations of you that week, what are other people saying that, Oh, you need to do this.

Kelsey Sorenson  26:24

Or more often, what are your own expectations that you’re having of yourself that nobody’s even saying like you could be like, says, Who? Who says that, oh, it’s just me. It’s just a part of myself saying that I have to do this. But do you really? And really just seeing what thoughts are in there? Because so often we don’t realize it.

Kelsey Sorenson  26:42

So taking time to kind of journal on each of those things, work, leisure, others, expectations, your expectations, you can kind of think about it as you’re listening. But I really do recommend actually getting on a notebook, or even just your notes app, and kind of putting some things out again, if you can hand write even better, because so much comes up when we write.

Kelsey Sorenson  26:58

It’s actually kind of crazy. I didn’t really like That’s why writing a book was such a powerful thing to me, because a lot of times, like, I do a lot of this where I’m, like, listening to coaching on a podcast or whatever, but then actually writing it down is so powerful more comes up to the surface when you’re writing.

Kelsey Sorenson  27:11

So I really do recommend kind of journaling on that, on your thoughts, on work, leisure, other others, expectations, on you during the week, and your expectations of yourself. And that might give you an indicator of those deeper needs that aren’t being met. But then it’ll also give you kind of some next steps of, oh, well, what do I want to think? What do I want to do about this?

Emily  27:32

Those are such great insights. So in your book, you talk about hanging thoughts and routines over time. How can teachers apply some of these strategies to feel more balanced throughout the week, not just on weekends?

Heidi  27:46

This is such a great question, and I really feel like this is just kind of wrapping up everything we’ve talked about and applying it, kind of tying it all together, that understanding what the Sunday scaries are. They’re a feeling. They’re a sensation in our bodies, that we can process it and feel it rather than trying to push it away, which is going to help it simmer down.

Kelsey Sorenson  28:06

We can plan ahead so our brain feels like it doesn’t have to ruminate on it, that it’s like, it’s okay to set it down for a while. We can work in leisure during the week, make room for things that we enjoy so we don’t dread it as much. Kind of a little hack to make it so we’re like, oh, maybe I don’t dread this so much.

Kelsey Sorenson  28:19

They’re actually things I like about it, and really just getting more in touch and doing that in our work, so we can get more in alignment with what it is that we need day to day, so we feel taken care of, so we don’t have to feel so anxious or worried or stressed or feelings of dread at the beginning of each week, and that we’re living our lives for each moment and not just the weekend.

Kelsey Sorenson  28:40

But it’s also understanding that it isn’t going to be an overnight change. As James Clear says in his best selling book, Atomic Habits, if we get just 1% better each day, we’ll get 37 times better over the course of a year. It may feel really slow, sometimes painfully, but over time, you’ll be shifting those thoughts, those habits, being able to tune into yourself and giving yourself so much compassion along the way.

Kelsey Sorenson  29:04

It’s important to get curious and compassionate with yourself and redirect your thoughts whenever you’ve noticed yourself talking negatively about yourself or feeling frustrated, because we’re all doing the best we can in any given moment.

Kelsey Sorenson  29:16

And you don’t have to do it alone either. Having a supportive community who’s trying to do it with you, helps so much. So we are actually doing a free event this winter, which I’m not sure when this is airing, and if we’ll have the page ready yet. But make sure you stay tuned. Watch the Educate & Rejuvenate platform. We’re going to come together the end of December 2024, and early January 2025, and do some of this work together.

Kelsey Sorenson  29:37

And right now, you can also download the intro and first chapter of my book for free, which focuses on becoming that compassionate observer of yourself. Even if you don’t read the rest of this book, you’ll learn so much just from the first chapter. But you’ll also get several guided meditations, such as my guided practice for processing emotions from the book and the recess reset that I mentioned earlier in this episode.

Kelsey Sorenson  29:59

You’ll get a free coaching clip of the week as well as teaching tips and tricks. And we put all of our episodes of educate and rejuvenate the podcast in the app as well, so you could really get everything, tons of support right at your fingertips on the Educate & Rejuvenate mobile app.

Kelsey Sorenson  30:13

But I recommend going through that link in the show notes, not just going right to the App Store and doing it so you unlock more of that stuff, and then you’ll be on our email list to hear about when we are ready for you to sign up and register for that free winter event as well. It’s going to be such a great time.

Heidi  30:27

Thank you so much, Kelsey. This has been such a powerful conversation. We hope it helps teachers feel empowered to take control of their Sunday scaries and make Mondays a more enjoyable part of their week. Thank you for being here. Where can our listeners connect more with you?

Heidi  30:44

Thank you so much, Emily Heidi, for having me on your show today. It’s always a pleasure to chat with the two of you. You can all find me on educate and rejuvenate on all the platforms, and I hope to see you there.

Emily  30:56

That’s it for today’s episode with our special guest Kelsey from Educate and Rejuvenate. If you enjoyed this episode, we would love if you shared it with a teacher friend who might enjoy talking about this Sunday series as well. Sharing with your friends is the best way to help our show reach new listeners.