What is the story about?
Most tend to look at Sundays as the one day in the week they can truly let themselves go. And they aren't wrong for that. After having no option but to stick
to a routine through the week, it feels good to not follow rules for that one hallowed stretch of 24 hours. But abandoning routine on a day when your body and mind truly let the impact of the week fall on them is actually counterproductive. The trick is in rebranding pampering yourself, as being softly productive in ways that is going to massage your nervous system and overall well being in the long run - and that's where the concept of a Sunday reset comes in.
Go out for breakfast
There are very few people who ideally want to jump right out of bed on a Sunday morning, let alone wake up in time to get some breakfast in. While a 7 am alarm is not necessary for this step, stepping out of the house, in however much of a casual fit is essential to kickstart the end of the week on an intentional note. Gentle exposure to the sun, the routine of waking up and the immediate change of environment shortly after your eyes open, helps regulate the circadian rhythm.Wash your sheets
When you freshen up your bed intentionally - all the way, right down to stripping the sheets - you are less likely to crawl back in for endless doom scrolling. It also inevitably reduces sensory stress, refreshing your most familiar environment and giving you a dopamine hit.Move your body
This step doesn't necessarily even need to entail those 10-minute workouts flooding social media. It could be as simple as an intentional 20 minute lap of your own house. Light but intentional movement goes a long way in releasing pent up stress hormones from the week gone by.No scroll hour
Now after what sounds like a pretty successful first half of the Sunday reset, push the doom scrolling reward further up ahead and try to commit to a 'no-scroll hour'. Reading a book and journalling appear to be the most fuss-free options for this step. But if you're feeling motivated, painting and other artistic pursuits also fit beautifully. The goal here is to delay the inevitable stream of digital inputs which overstimulates the nervous system, even passively.The everything shower with a twist
Warm water works wonders, Marry that with a full scalp-to-sole reset for the body and your insides will be beaming, curve to curve. The twist here is to shower in the dark, save for a few lit candles - a move believed to reset your cortisol, which is the stress hormone. Be sure to get the lights back on if your everything shower involves steps like shaving.
Face mask
Follow up the shower with fresh pajamas and a light face mask, carrying the candle into your bedroom. Sip on your favourite drink. This step introduces safety and rest to the day's rhythm, which thus far had been softly productive.The game-changer
It's literally nothing. To do, nothing. For at least 15 minutes, lay on your bed and let your thoughts simply exist. No music, no phone, no external inputs. Just let your brain, be.And after successfully ticking off all these steps, maybe, reward yourself with (some) doom scrolling - for old habits die hard.
