Dreading work particularly Mondays!? (Sunday blues)

[k5thbeatle]

I’d like some advice for a dear friend who just confided in me that he dreads going to work, especially on Mondays so much so that it practically ruins his Sunday.

I must say, I was quite taken back by this news as I always believed this man to be a successful and energetic businessman. What I learned was just the exact opposite. I won’t go into all of the details or how I came to have this discussion with him but I learned that his job has become a burden to him and he’s not the happy-go-lucky chap I thought he was nor is his business doing as well as I believed.

It kind of partially makes sense to me now as all the time I thought he was maybe a little bit over the top with being frugal but now I see it is more that he is struggling financially.

He’s middle aged (just slightly older than myself) but I’m afraid he’s burned out? The problem (at least partially how I see it) is that he’s in a profession that doesn’t lend itself well to other “jobs” not to mention his age and most importantly that he owns a business which I believe (almost certain) carries some debt.

I know this man to be a good man and good at what he does but how does one go about getting help for someone with this issue of dreading going to work. As he put it, he almost dreads getting up on Sundays as he knows Monday follows and as the day goes on he gets more and more anxious and upset.

If anything will some of you please say a prayer for my friend?

 

[1ke]

He needs professional help, urge him to see a counselor.

 

[Chiltepin]

He owns his own business and his job history doesn’t lend itself to anything in particular, is that correct?

It sounds like it is time for a change. I don’t know what field he is in to advise what to do about it. Just last year I was in a job that made me so miserable that despite being pregnant, having a one year old, and being always exhausted, I could not sleep. When I laid my sleepy head down I knew that sleeping meant I would have to get up and go back there the next day. I would have panic attacks in bed instead of sleeping. It didn’t help that when I got to work, people would be sitting in their cars crying because they didn’t want to go into the building either.

I put in for a transfer and got a job at a school WAY closer to my house with administrators who are kind, supportive and competent. Sometimes you just need a new job.

His situation sounds very tangley, but I have found that even just planning an escape route or career change gives you hope for the future. I’ve signed up for college classes to change careers before and even wrote a few chapters of a book that I was convinced would sell enough copies I could quit. I didn’t put in the work to make either of those things happen, but it was enough to give me hope to make it through. Looking to the future and planning a change feels good.

 

[christofirst]

I experienced the same thing for many years, although perhaps not with the same intensity your friend describes. Sunday afternoons were a time of anxiety for me, dreading the work week to come. I have been retired for three years now, but I still get an uneasy feeling on Sunday evenings, even though there is no longer anything for me to dread - force of habit, I suppose.

I was blessed to be able to use this time of mild anxiety as an opportunity for intense prayer. Although I was worried about the situation at work and all of the “what-ifs”, this eventually led me to turn these many concerns over to God and His loving providence. We do what we can to prepare for the future, but sooner or later we must come to realize that many things are simply out of our control.

One of my constant prayers during these years was, “Lord, help me to plan well, and to respond well, come what may.” I pray that your friend will find peace.

 

[LongingSoul]

This fellow really would benefit from some counselling to be able to experience the benefits of his precious time off. I know that for a really long time I hated the whole feel of Saturdays. When I was growing up, my working mother made Saturdays wash day and we did the entire family wash that day. It was my job to be her lacky and do all the hanging and when it was dry, I had to take it off and help with folding. After I left home, for some reason I kept doing washing on Saturdays and just dreading its coming. Eventually, I changed my wash days and kept Saturdays free for something nicer and the whole veil of dread has lifted from Saturdays nowadays.

I know that he has to work Mondays, but perhaps he could schedule something enjoyable into his Mondays as well that would be something to look forward to? A sport after work or breakfast meetup that could become a regular habit?