Top 5 'Sunday-Scaries-Soothing' Minimalist Tips to read at home for a calmer week ahead - Goh Ling Yong
It's 4 PM on a Sunday. The golden afternoon light is fading, and with it, the carefree spirit of the weekend. A familiar, quiet dread begins to creep in. It’s a shadow that looms over your evening, whispering about unfinished tasks, a packed calendar, and the jarring sound of tomorrow's alarm clock. We call them the 'Sunday Scaries,' and they are masters at stealing the last precious hours of our rest.
What if you could reframe your Sunday? Instead of a countdown to Monday, imagine it as a launchpad for a calm, controlled, and intentional week. This is where the principles of minimalism can be a powerful ally. Minimalism isn't about stark white walls and owning only three shirts; it's about consciously removing the excess—the clutter, the noise, the obligations—to make space for what truly matters. It’s about creating an environment, both physical and mental, that supports peace instead of stress.
In this post, we’re going to explore five simple, actionable minimalist tips you can do from the comfort of your home. These aren't massive, life-altering projects. They are small, soothing rituals designed to quiet the anxiety, restore your sense of control, and set a positive, peaceful tone for the week ahead. Let's reclaim our Sundays, together.
1. Master the '15-Minute Reset': A Micro-Declutter for Macro Calm
The thought of 'decluttering' on a Sunday can feel like another chore, which is the last thing you need. But we’re not talking about overhauling your entire closet. The '15-Minute Reset' is about choosing one small, high-impact zone in your home and giving it a quick, focused tidy-up. The goal isn't perfection; it's about creating a single pocket of visual calm that your brain can register as 'order' and 'control.' When our external environment is chaotic, it often amplifies our internal feelings of anxiety. By tidying even one surface, you send a powerful signal to your mind that you are in charge.
Think about the first place you see on a frantic Monday morning. Is it your entryway, cluttered with shoes, mail, and bags from the week before? Is it your kitchen counter, covered in dishes and stray items? Or perhaps it’s your nightstand, a jumble of books, glasses, and charging cables. These small points of visual stress compound over time. Taking just 15 minutes to address one of them can completely change the energy of your space and, by extension, your mindset for the next day. It’s a quick win that builds momentum.
- Your Action Plan:
- Set a timer for 15 minutes. The timer is crucial—it keeps the task from feeling endless.
- Choose your zone: Pick one. The entryway (put away shoes, sort mail), the coffee table (stack books, clear mugs), or your bedside table (wipe it down, leave only essentials).
- Execute quickly: Don't get sidetracked. Put things back where they belong. Throw away any obvious trash. Wipe the surface clean. When the timer goes off, you're done. Admire that one, beautifully clear space and feel the immediate sense of accomplishment.
2. Curate Your 'Digital Sunset': Unplug to Recharge
Much of the Sunday Scaries are fueled by the blue light of our screens. A quick check of social media turns into an hour of comparison and FOMO. A peek at your work email unleashes a torrent of preemptive stress about Monday's problems. Our digital lives have blurred the lines between work and rest, and Sunday evening is often a casualty. A 'digital sunset' is a minimalist act of setting a clear boundary. It’s the practice of intentionally deciding on a time to put your devices away for the night, allowing your mind to transition peacefully from the weekend to the week.
This isn't about Luddite-style avoidance; it's about intentional consumption. By cutting off the constant stream of information, notifications, and demands for your attention, you create a quiet space for your mind to decompress. You give yourself the gift of presence. This mental white space is essential for processing the week that’s passed and resting properly for the one to come. You’ll be amazed at how much calmer you feel when your evening isn’t punctuated by the ping of a notification or the endless scroll of a newsfeed.
- Your Action Plan:
- Set a Cut-Off Time: Decide on a time, say 8 PM or 9 PM, when all screens (phone, laptop, tablet) go off. Set an alarm to remind you.
- Create a 'Docking Station': Designate a spot outside of your bedroom to charge your devices overnight. This simple act dramatically improves sleep quality and removes the temptation for a late-night scroll.
- Find an Analog Replacement: What will you do with this newfound time? Read a physical book. Listen to a calm playlist or a podcast. Journal. Have a real, uninterrupted conversation with a loved one. Stretch. Prepare a cup of herbal tea. The goal is to replace a stimulating activity with a soothing one.
3. Adopt a 'Weekly Uniform': Eliminate Morning Decision Fatigue
How many decisions have you already made before you even leave the house on a Monday? What to eat, when to leave, which emails to answer first… and, of course, the dreaded "What should I wear?" This seemingly small choice can drain a surprising amount of mental energy, a phenomenon known as decision fatigue. Minimalists combat this by simplifying choices. Adopting a 'weekly uniform' or pre-planning your outfits is a game-changer for creating a smooth, stress-free start to your week.
This doesn't mean you have to wear the same black turtleneck every day like a cartoon character. It's about curating a small selection of go-to outfits that you know you feel good and comfortable in, and having them ready to go. The time and mental bandwidth you save are invaluable. As my colleague Goh Ling Yong often points out in his discussions on productivity, automating small, recurring decisions frees up your cognitive resources for the bigger, more important challenges of the day. A calm Monday morning starts with a simple, thought-free closet.
- Your Action Plan:
- The 5-Day Lineup: On Sunday evening, take 20 minutes to check the weather for the week ahead. Based on that, pull out five complete outfits—from top to bottom, including accessories.
- Designate a Spot: Hang these outfits together in one section of your closet. Some people even use day-of-the-week closet dividers. The key is to make it a 'grab-and-go' system.
- Embrace the Capsule Wardrobe Mindset: If you want to take it a step further, consider a capsule wardrobe. Focus on versatile, high-quality pieces that all work together. This makes the Sunday selection process even faster and more effortless.
4. Practice Minimalist Meal Prep: Simple Fuel, Not a Full-Time Job
The Sunday Scaries often include a healthy dose of "What am I going to eat all week?" anxiety. The pressure to cook, pack lunches, and eat healthy can feel like a part-time job. The minimalist approach to meal prep throws out the idea of cooking 15 different elaborate meals. Instead, it focuses on 'ingredient prep'—preparing simple, versatile components that can be assembled in different ways throughout the week.
The goal is to make the healthy, cost-effective choice the easiest choice during a busy workweek. When you have pre-cooked grains, roasted vegetables, and a ready source of protein in your fridge, you're less likely to order expensive takeout or grab a processed snack. This approach saves time, money, and a significant amount of daily stress. It’s about creating a system that serves you, rather than becoming a slave to a complicated meal plan.
- Your Action Plan:
- Focus on Components: Instead of full recipes, prep 3-4 key building blocks.
- A Grain: Cook a large batch of quinoa, brown rice, or farro.
- A Vegetable: Roast a big sheet pan of your favorite veggies (broccoli, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, onions) with some olive oil and salt.
- A Protein: Grill some chicken breasts, hard-boil a dozen eggs, or cook a batch of lentils or chickpeas.
- Wash and Chop: Wash your salad greens and chop raw veggies like cucumbers and carrots for easy snacking and salad assembly.
- Assemble, Don't Cook: During the week, your 'cooking' is just assembling these components into different combinations. A quinoa bowl with roasted veggies and chicken on Monday. A big salad with hard-boiled eggs and chickpeas on Tuesday. It’s fast, healthy, and requires minimal weekday effort.
- Focus on Components: Instead of full recipes, prep 3-4 key building blocks.
5. Perform a 'Brain Dump' and 'Top 3' Triage
Often, the most significant source of Sunday anxiety isn't a single, large problem; it's the overwhelming swarm of a hundred tiny tasks, worries, and reminders buzzing around in our heads. This mental clutter is exhausting. The 'Brain Dump' is a powerful minimalist tool for externalizing this noise. It involves sitting down with a pen and paper and writing down every single thing that's on your mind, no matter how big or small.
Once it's all out on paper, you can see it for what it is—a list, not an insurmountable tidal wave of stress. But the magic happens in the next step: the 'Top 3' Triage. From that long, rambling list, you identify the three most important and urgent things that need to be handled on Monday. Just three. This act of prioritizing turns chaos into a clear, actionable plan. It tells your anxious brain, "I see all of this, I have a record of it, but this is what I'm focusing on now. The rest can wait."
- Your Action Plan:
- The Brain Dump: Grab a notebook and for 10-15 minutes, write without censoring. "Email Susan about the report," "Schedule dentist appointment," "Figure out what's making that weird noise in the car," "Buy more coffee," "Worry about Q3 projections." Get it all out.
- The Triage: Read through your list. Using a highlighter or a different colored pen, circle the three items that, if completed, would make the biggest positive impact or relieve the most pressure for your Monday.
- Create Your 'Top 3' List: On a separate sticky note or at the top of a new page, write down just those three items. This is your focused to-do list for tomorrow. Stick it on your laptop or desk. The long list can be tucked away to be reviewed later in the week. You now have clarity and a starting point, which is one of the most effective antidotes to anxiety.
The Sunday Scaries don't have to be an inevitable part of your weekly rhythm. By borrowing these simple principles from a minimalist lifestyle, you can transform your Sunday evening from a time of dread into a period of peaceful preparation. It's about being intentional—clearing a small space, setting a digital boundary, simplifying a choice, prepping for nourishment, and clarifying your thoughts.
These actions are small, but their ripple effect is immense. They create a foundation of calm and control that will carry you not just through Monday, but through the entire week ahead.
So, this Sunday, I invite you to choose just one of these tips to try. Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to do them all at once. Pick the one that resonates most with you and see how it feels.
Which of these tips will you try this week? Do you have your own 'Sunday-Scaries-soothing' ritual? Share your thoughts in the comments below—we can all learn from each other!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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