The way you feel on Sunday nights could be telling you volumes about your relationship with work, your career, and your company. Are you filled with dread for Monday morning? Moody? Anxious? Overwhelmed? Depressed? Are you crankier than you were on Saturday night? If so, you may be experiencing the Sunday Night Slump.

The source of your Sunday Night Slump will provide some insight into the relationship you have with work and what might need to change in order to be more fulfilled in your career. Let’s think first about the possible source of the slump:

Are you dreading the boredom or monotony of the work week?
Do you dislike the climate, culture, or people within your work group?
Are you overloaded, overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be accomplished?

What about the level of the Sunday Night Slump? Even those who have engaging and stimulating careers may experience some of these feelings on Sunday evening as they temporarily mourn the loss of their freedom. If your slump is easily mitigated with an episode of Desperate Housewives, a football game, or a bowl of Ben and Jerry’s shared with a friend, then your reactions are probably normal.

How do you know if the slump is more serious? In a poll conducted by Monster Worldwide, over 80% of American and British workers have trouble sleeping on Sunday nights.

In addition to insomnia, if Sunday evenings predictably bringing more arguments with loved ones, a loss of interest in the things you normally enjoy, difficulty concentrating then Sunday night may suggest that something in your life needs to change.

Allow those Sunday night feelings to help you uncover whether it is time to change your employer, your job, or transfer to a more satisfying work situation. Please don’t ignore these feelings. Life is too short to be unhappy or unfulfilled in your work-life.

As always, thank you for reading –

Paula