Sunday Blues (sŭn'dē, -dā' - blüz) noun. Low in spirits or melancholy on the first day of the week, also known as the day after Saturday. Symptoms are commonly temporary to Sunday and may include some or all of the following: self-reflection, dissatisfaction with self, homesickness, nostalgia, prolonged sadness, and/or introspective depression. A cure has yet to be produced, though symptoms worsen in solitary confinement.
Have you ever had the Sunday Blues? It's something my college roommate, Nicole and I invented back in school. Her chemotherapy treatments would often leave her, and voluntarily, I, stranded indoors on the weekends and by the time Sunday rolled around, depression hit us hard. Well, we didn't really invent the Sunday Blues. Perhaps we should call it a self-diagnosis that came about after many long hours of therapeutic “girl chats,” some of which lasted well into Monday morning. Unfortunately, sometimes that's the only cure. In my experience, people are most likely to fall victim to the Sunday Blues during the afternoon times. It's what happens when you're being so introspective that you doubt almost everything about yourself, who you are and what you're doing. Other symptoms of the Sunday Blues include homesickness, nostalgia, and/or depression, as you can read from the above *cough*MEDICAL*cough* definition.
And though I'm no doctor, if I had to guess, I'd say cases of Sunday Blues are much more likely to occur in urban and metropolitan areas. Why? Because what's to be sad about in the country? Nothing.
My biggest Sunday Blues symptom is probably homesickness. The second, I'm embarrassed to say, could possibly be the lack of an engagement. Obviously, everyone's Sunday Blues symptoms are different. If you don't have a boyfriend, maybe it's a longing for companionship. Maybe you're a post-grad and struggling in the current job market; your Sunday Blues could be a self evaluation of your life that comes dangerously close to sending you into a state of depression. - Lord knows I've been there before.
As far as I know, there is no cure. Though, I've found that hour-long “girl chats” (as previously stated) and honest best friend-to-best friend confessions help with the pain. Sunday Blues is one of those things that makes you want to lock yourself in a darkened, chilled room listening to sad country music, even though you know you shouldn't be.
It's tough on me at times. I mean, I come from the south; from the place of “That's What I Love About Sundays!” Shoot, I was brought up to love everything about this day!
Still, it seems like every Sunday, all I can think about is being at home...in the country. All I can hear is my dad laughing hysterically. He has one of those laughs that just makes you want to laugh, even if what he's laughing at isn't funny at all. All I can smell is my mom just as she's getting out of her bath. It just smells like home. All I can feel is a longing for my other half. It's not easy living without your best friend for months at a time.
Chalk it up to another case of the Sunday Blues.
The only good thing about Sunday Blues...Monday is just around the corner.
Bridget Marie
I would love to hear from you! Email me at bridget (DOT) forney (AT) gmail.com or find me on Twitter at twitter.com/BridgetForney.
5 Comments:
I love the term. And I definitely get The Sunday Blues at least one Sunday out of the month.
Bridge,
Some thoughts:
Past- How I handle Sunday Blues:
Focus on goals I’m passionate about. There are many goals that I don’t normally have enough time to accomplish during the workweek. Even writing a list and focusing on one important goal can make the day worthwhile.
Present- How I handle Sunday Blues:
Hopefully I will be on vacation. If not I usually cave to peer pressure and go out the night before to somewhere I don’t want to be. Baltimore is so painful I usually end up putting myself into an alcohol coma to help ease the misery. This way I can try to salvage another lost night in my existence by tricking myself into thinking “I’m having an awesome time”. It just ALWAYS happens that way. So Sunday I usually wake up semi hung-over, past 1pm, and completely un-functional.
So I propose focusing on a goal or alcohol coma. Coma is the coward way out.
Much thanks for this post. It forces me to re-evaluate a seventh (or 14%) of my life, at least for the next few months.
-Bag
Great blog! You literally described my feelings for every Sunday for the past five years. I only recently moved back to my home state of Maryland after living in NYC for 6 years. Who thought you could be so depressed and lonely in a city like NY. Well I am here to prove you can and there are many others like me in NYC! You are right, there is something about metropolitan areas and Sunday Blues that seem to go hand in hand. It is not that I did not try to overcome my Sunday blues either, I really did. I walked the city, cooked all day, went shopping, people watched in central park... nothing worked! I ended up wasting the whole day in bed with a bottle of wine and movies.
My recent cure- moving back to Maryland. My Sundays are now spent surrounded by family and very close friends. I moved back at an awful time as I am now searching for a job, but even jobless I am more happy than I was in NYC and my Sunday Blues are gone.
Since I have always been a Marylander at heart I am sad to hear how depressed you are, but I completely understand. Good luck in your endeavors to overcome the Sunday Blues! They are brutal, but not incurable. Keep searching for your cure!
Like the post. Something similar to this I posted on my blog also. Do stop by Subliminal verses sometime.
It's hard to get through Sunday Blues without you!!! It used to be so much easier to get through when I could walk down the hall into your room and sit on the edge of your bed!!!! :( pooooo finggggggg
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