Ep. 93 - The Sunday Reset That Sets up Your Entire Week

Do you get hit with a wave of anxiety every Sunday evening? You’re not alone. In this episode, we’re tackling the dreaded "Monday scaries" head-on and talking about how to reclaim your week using a realistic, powerful Sunday reset routine.

If you are looking for a practical Sunday reset routine to lower anxiety, forget the perfect, high-aesthetic "Type A" routines you see on social media. Your life, your energy levels, and your schedule are completely unique—whether you are a busy parent managing a chaotic household or navigating a completely new season of life. This episode isn’t a cookie-cutter formula; it’s a flexible guideline designed to help you build a personalized Sunday reset routine for a stress-free week that actually fits your lifestyle.

We break down the ultimate Sunday reset into three simple, actionable pillars:

🔄 The 3-Part Sunday Reset Framework:

• 1. Plan: How to look ahead at your upcoming week to map out crucial deadlines, appointments, and household tasks without getting overwhelmed.
• 2. Prep: The practical steps to lower mid-week friction—from strategic meal prep tips and grocery shopping to quick house resets and filling up your gas tank.
• 3. Pause: The missing step in most routines. Why resetting your own energy through self-care Sunday rituals is just as important as cleaning your house.

Waking up on Monday morning to a clean home, a stocked fridge, and a clear game plan changes everything. Tune in to learn how to transition from feeling scattered and rushed to feeling calm, steady, and completely in control.

💖 Connect & Support

If this episode helped you rethink your weekend routine, please share it with a friend who struggles with Sunday anxiety! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform to help us reach more women just like you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Hello and welcome to the She Can Heal Podcast, a podcast aimed at helping women heal and thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I am your host, Kayla El Dia. I'm a licensed therapist and a self-care advocate that is passionate about helping women take back their power and help them realize they're important, worthy, and deserve the care and attention they give to those they love most in their lives. This show is meant to help inspire you on your healing journey, no matter if you're in the discovery phase and are just realizing that you have unhealed wounds, habits, and mindsets that are keeping you stuck in your life, or you've been on this journey for a while and are looking for inspiration, encouragement, andor new tools to help you continue on your healing journey. My goal is to help you realize that you can heal from all that life has thrown at you and are capable of evolving into your healthiest and happiest version. On this show, I will provide you with resources, tools, and insights to help you heal and thrive emotionally, physically, and spiritually, because you deserve all of that. So if you're ready to ditch the guilt and make yourself a priority, then you're in the right place. Because the truth is that you can't pour from an empty cup, even though most of us do this on a regular, and we really need to stop that nonsense. So get ready to be inspired, motivated, and equipped to truly thrive. Hello

Why Sunday Feels So Heavy

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and welcome to another episode on the She Can Heal podcast. And thank you for hitting play and joining me today. Because today I want to talk to you about how we as women can reclaim our week by having a powerful Sunday reset routine. Why? Because there's so many of us that get the Monday scaries on a Sunday. I know this used to be me many years ago, where Sunday comes and we already start feeling the weight of what a new week is going to be for us. I know we start thinking how tired and how busy and how much we have to get done during our week. And this is what creates so much anxiety and so much stress, even before the week has started. Especially if you're a mom, because that means that all the tasks, not only for you, such as cooking dinner each night, cleaning the house, going to appointments, etc., but for the kids, like their afternoon routines with homework and dinner and bath time and chauffeuring them all around to all their different activities. I'm personally not a mom with kids at home right now, but I can remember how exhausting that could be, right? And now as an empty nester, there's a different type of exhaustion that comes from the week. So today I wanted to share with you how we as women can create a day where we can get ready for the week ahead in a way that's gonna help us feel better and not dread Mondays. I used to be that person who got sad at the end of the weekend and really did not like Mondays. I'm not gonna lie, when a weekend comes to an end, of course, we're gonna just feel a little bit of that. It's normal. We have a weekend that we kind of just do as we please. But if there's one thing that I've learned is that preparation is key. And I know a lot of women are good with planning and prepping for the week ahead. I mean, I've seen so many YouTube and social media videos on how some moms are like so good at prepping their kids' meals and meal prepping for themselves. You know, they just do such a great job. But I also know this is also an area that can stress us out because they make it look so easy, or for some of us, me included, it looks like so much work to get prepped for the week. And the truth is that it's only up to each of us, each individual person, to determine what that would look like for them because not everyone is a type A person. I certainly am not that person, but also we can create the Sunday reset that works for us and can help us and guide us to have a good and peaceful week. So today I'm not going to do a cookie cutter episode stating that this is the way to do it, but create a guideline for you to then create what works for you. For example, number one is that we're all different people with different lifestyles. So what will work for one person is not gonna work for anyone else. And just like one diet doesn't work for everyone, the same thing goes for our routines. Also, what feels good for one person can feel really hard for another person. Someone can say, Oh, this is easy, while another person says, No, this is hard. And so this is a reminder that this is not for us to compare ourselves to anyone else. It is to remind ourselves that we're all different, people have different lifestyles, different energy styles, different personality styles, like all of that. Like we're so different, everyone is so unique in that way, so that it's not fair for you to try to compare yourself to someone who you see on the internet or even to a friend, because you know, I'm sure we have friends like that that they just look like they have it all together, and a lot of times it's just that they are really good with their time management or they're really good at prepping and planning things out, while some of us really are just not that good, but also we can get there, right? We can we can kind of create the routine that works for us. If you are a person that has a lot of energy in the morning and can do a lot of stuff, then maybe you're the person that plans to do a lot of this stuff in the morning. While some of us need to have a slow morning and in the afternoon, we get all this energy, right? So it's really depending on who you are, your personality, and all of that. So I just wanted to start with that that this is not a cookie cutter, everyone's different, and comparing yourself to someone else is not going to be fair to you because we're all different and have different

Build A Reset That Fits You

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lives. But before we get into the actual habits, I want to share a little bit of why this is a good idea. Why should we really use Sundays as a reset, as a like planning for your week ahead? Personally, I know that anytime I slack off on a Sunday and I don't do anything to prepare myself for the week, I always regret it. Why? Because then my week tends to feel rushed, chaotic, and stressful. An example is if I don't plan my meals and I don't grocery shop for the week, I rush to the grocery store maybe like on a Monday after work when I'm already tired and it makes me feel first like a failure, right? Because I should have done this. Kayla, you know better. And second, and it just makes me feel rushed and upset. And if I'm not prepared for the week, especially with my meals, then I'm going to make less healthier habits, like going out for lunch or breakfast, or I don't exercise as much because there's no planning and prepping involved. Less organized, which means I can't find things as easily. I feel more scattered, more stressed, and the list goes on. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggles with these types of dilemmas. I'm sure that if you're listening to this, I'm sure that you can attest to this that if you don't make the time to plan, if you don't make the time to prep your for yourself, your week just is a lot more hectic, right? Because the truth is that planning and prepping for the most important parts of our week leads to higher levels of productivity, more focus, more creativity. You have steady levels of energy, focus, your mood is so much better. You have lower levels of stress, lower levels of overwhelm. You're not going to like burn yourself out, you're not going to be as frustrated or irritated as you would be when you are stressed out because I have to get all these things done that I didn't make time for. And also, it does not have to be a type A kind of routine like you see on social media, unless that works for you. And if it does, then do that, right? Sometimes just doing the necessary things can make you feel calm, steady, and organized, and that is good enough. We don't have to be, we don't have to do all these big things, big elaborate things just because we see it on social media and we think this is the way that we're supposed to do it. And with this episode, I want to remind you that again, I'm not going to say that this is the way that you should be doing it. I'm going to just give you some guidelines and you are the one that's going to fill that in. Okay. And just remind yourself, right? A Sunday reset changes everything. It's not about being productive every second of your weekend. It's about carving out just a few intentional hours to get your life together so that you can actually enjoy the rest of your Sunday and start Monday feeling like a person who has their act together. Because there's nothing quite like waking up on a Monday to your clean home, a stock fridge, and a clear plan for the week ahead. So when we talk about a Sunday reset, what it really means, it's a weekly ritual where you prepare your environment, your schedule, and yourself for the week ahead. It's part cleaning, part planning, part self-care. And the goal is to close out your current week properly and set yourself up for the coming week so that you can feel manageable rather than overwhelming, right? So again, it's about just preparing yourself, planning ahead, and creating the structure that you need so that your week is so much more manageable. You're not, again, you're not stressed out because you didn't, you know, didn't do your laundry or you didn't meal plan or you didn't do all of this because I know personally when I don't do those things is when I start to feel very stressed. So we're gonna start, and I am breaking this down into a three-part step. So step one is plan, step two is prep, and step three is pause. Okay, so I'm gonna explain each one to

Step One Plan Your Week

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you. So number one, planning. And what that means is you are going to plan out what does your week actually look like, and what are you going to need? This is the part where you're gonna sit down and you're gonna actually identify what goes on in your week. For example, what important tasks do you need to do this week? For example, like what are the meals that you have to plan? What is your exercise workouts, like cleaning the house? Are there any deadlines that you have to plan for? What kinds of things do you need to plan for the kids? Any household tasks? So, this is where you would include any of the things, important tasks that you have to do. That these are the important things you have to do during the week so that your life can run very smoothly. Again, right? This might include meals that you have to plan for, it might include um any type of rituals, any type of plans for like self-care, health, for organization, anything like that? What are the most important tasks that you need to plan? B, are there any important dates this week that you need to plan for? For example, are there any doctor appointments? Does anything need to be renewed? Are there any bills that are being due? Do you have to attend any meetings for yourself, for your children? So, again, what are important dates that you need to plan for in your schedule this week? And then C is what are important to do's that you want to plan for? Right? So it could be like this week, I have to maybe it's baking cupcakes for your kids' school, maybe buying snacks for their camp, maybe it's I have to go and buy dog food, maybe I have to prepare certain things. Again, what are those important things that you want to plan for? So, again, what are those important tasks that you need to do in order to run your week? What are the important dates and things that you have to plan for that actually have deadlines like doctor appointments and those type of things? And then what are important to do's that you want to plan for? And again, this is the part where you're essentially planning out your week so that you can plan for all that you need. And this could be as simple as creating just writing it all down and then pulling out whatever tool it is that you use for your week and then plugging it all in so that you know what your week looks like. Okay, so this is a really important part, and sometimes you don't have to do this from scratch every single week because if this becomes a ritual, like a routine for you every Sunday, you already know what are those things that you need to do for your week. For everyone, it will be different, and we'll talk about it in the next step. Okay, so again, step one is plan. All right, so now step two is preparation.

Step Two Prep Meals And Home

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This is when you're gonna take the necessary steps you need to take. So this is when we actually start putting into action what we need. Okay, so now that you have already your plan in step one, and step two is when we're actually gonna do the prep work for our week. So, number one, we're gonna talk about what are some of the what could some of those things look like for you. So Sundays could be a day that you complete your weekly meal plan, grocery shopping, meal prep, everything that you need, right? A lot of times for us, it's really creating what we're gonna do. So for a lot of people, that's grocery shopping, it's getting everything they need for the week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you have a list of meals that you usually alternate for the month, this could be picking out the ones that you're gonna make this week, creating that grocery list, and then going shopping. For some of us, that means cooking the proteins, cutting up the veggies, cooking up your carbs so that you can easily put meals together that you need for the week. For some, it's creating specific meals for the week so you don't have to think about it. I know some people like to actually like create one meal or two meals for the week. I do that sometimes, depending on what it is. For some people, it's buying pre-made options like buying grilled chicken, buying salads that you can then put together easily. Again, it's this is the part where you have to kind of figure out what is it that works for me. I like to do a combination of both. I'm learning that sometimes creating actual meals, the same meal for the whole week, sometimes doesn't work out. So sometimes I'm really working on either buying pre-made options like grilled chicken, bringing um cutting up veggies, cooking up some quinoa or some baked potatoes or whatever it is, and then I can just mix and match for the week. So anything like that could be really good for you. It's up to you to decide what works best for you. One thing that I've done myself is I've created a monthly meal plan with different options that I can just kind of pick from and alternate from so that way it makes it so much easier. Versus creating a meal plan every single week. So again, you have to kind of figure out what works for you depending on your family, depending like if you have kids, if it's just you, if it's you and your spouse. It's all going to depend on that, and then create the system that works for you. Sundays can also be the day that you like clean out your refrigerator or clean your stove and oven, you clean your microwave, or any appliances that you use for the week, so that when it's time for you to use these appliances, you don't have to worry about them not being clean or not being ready to use. I know that if you're a busy person, doing these types of things on the weekend can be a really big help because I don't know about you, but my evenings are really limited, and the last thing I want to do is to do all these big cleanups when I can just do it on the weekend nice and comfortable and at my own pace. So sometimes that could be helpful. This could be the day that you refill like your toilet paper and make sure you have enough toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner so that you're not running out in the middle of the week when your schedule is a bit tighter. This could be the day that you deep clean your floors so that they can be nice and clean for the week, or deep clean anything that you think would make it a lot easier for you during your week. This could be the day that you wash all your blankets and your pillowcases and those types of things, right? This could be the day that you do that. Sundays could be the day that you clean out your car and you refill everything that you need, that you get gas for the week. I know sometimes it's good to just start with like a clean car, your gas is full, maybe bring it to the car wash, give it a nice wash, whatever that looks like for you. This could be the day that you do your laundry for the week, so that you're not doing laundry in the middle of the week and when you don't have enough clothes for the week or for your kids or whatnot, you don't have enough socks, all of that. Because again, during the week, it's just makes it harder because we have limited time. We're like working all day, we're taking care of the kids, we're doing all these other tasks. And so a lot of this, a lot of what I've just talked about really is this is like the part of the routine that is specific to you and your lifestyle. So it's really gonna depend on you. Like, what do you need done ahead of time? So, for instance, for some meal prep, laundry, and maybe like a bedroom refresh is essential for them to really feel good when they start their week. For others, it could be pulling out the planner and putting in the days that you exercise, the day that the kids have activities, right? That could be where you put your meal plan and scheduling your self-care. So this is really truly individualized, and it truly depends on what you need to do and plan so that you can be fully prepared and ready for it, right? And again, asking yourself, what things do you need ahead of time so that you don't have to feel rushed, stressed, or stretched. For example, my meal planning is key. I hate coming home and not knowing what I'm gonna make for dinner. And I also need to plan out the days that I want to work out so that I don't get busy with other tasks and just forget. Now I know Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays is the days that I want to either go to the gym or work out at home or whatnot. And this really helps me, right? So preparing my meals like for breakfast and lunch are also essential so that I don't have to prepare them in the evening before the night before when I'm already tired for the day and I'm trying to do other things. Most of the time, I make like the chicken or ground beef. I make a batch of either sweet potatoes or some quinoa, I cut up veggies so that way I don't have to spend 30 minutes preparing this in the evening. I just pull out my Tupperware, I add my I put my meal together, and I'm done for the next day. And it truly is a good feeling because then the next morning I don't have to think about, oh my god, I gotta prep putting something together for lunch. I have to put something together for breakfast because I've already done it ahead of time. And again, reminder, it's truly unique to your lifestyle and what will make your fe your week feel peaceful. Some people really enjoy cooking at night, some people really cook their meal and then they take leftovers at for work the next day. Whatever works for you. It's just reminding yourself that these are the areas of your life that would make your week so much easier so that you don't have to be stressed thinking about meal planning or thinking about like the laundry, thinking about your your house is kind of messy and you don't have time to do X, Y, or Z. And Sundays could be the perfect day for that. So again, we're talking about preparation. So this is the part where you're actually taking the steps to create the week that really you need in order for you to feel better.

Step Three Pause And Recharge

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All right, so now we're gonna move on to part three, which is pause. And this is all about resetting your energy for the coming week. Okay, so now that you've planned and you've prepared for your week, now it's time for you to pause and reset for the week ahead. And this is the part where you think about what are some self-care activities that help you feel refreshed for Monday. For others, it is using the last couple hours of Sunday to do something relaxing like reading, engaging in a hobby, or catching up on your favorite show. It could be cultivating a quiet evening that can include ordering a good meal, watching a good movie, or your favorite TV show. Maybe it's getting together with some friends for a nice afternoon walk, followed by you know a meal, maybe going out for dinner. Others like a cozy night in, so getting your favorite blanket, a good book with your favorite snacks could be it. For others, it's attending their favorite exercise, yoga class, going to their book club, engaging with friends. Maybe it's a fun evening at home with the kids, playing games, eating pizza. I think about sometimes like Sundays could be the day where you can do a more like a deeper skin routine. It could be the day that you truly sit down and you maybe you really take care of your feet, give yourself like a little foot spa. It could be the day where you just do something a little extra for yourself so that you're like rested, refreshed, and you're ready for like the week ahead. This could be the day where you just think about for yourself. Everyone's so different. Like for some people, doing things active really refreshes them and energizes them. For others, it is doing quiet activities at home. So it's really dependent on what works for you and what helps you to reset your energy, what helps you to feel relaxed and refreshed to start a new week. I know for some, it could be doing like some specific rituals every Sunday night. For some, it could be engaging in like a hobby and doing something really fun and entertaining. So again, this is the part where it depends on you. But the whole idea is that you've already done a lot of the preparation, you've already done everything you need to set your week, and the most important part is resetting you too, right? So it's not just like working yourself like a dog on a Sunday because that defeats the purpose, it is more about doing those things that you know are gonna help you have a good week, and also that includes you. What can you do in order for you to feel good about just entering into a new week again, depending on what you're what you like and what helps you? Alright.

A Realistic Sunday Reset Example

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So I wanted to give you like an example. Example of maybe someone's Sunday reset routine could look like. I'm just kind of putting these things out there, but again, we're all different, so it's gonna depend. But here it goes, right? It could be something like 8 a.m. You wake up, you have breakfast and coffee, you kind of go for a morning walk or do whatever morning routine that you like. And maybe by 9 a.m. this is the time where you sit down and you plan out your your week. So you pull out your planner or whatever it is that you use, you write down all your weekly to-dos, your appointments, and that could take you about 30 minutes of literally just identifying what you need for the week. Maybe at 9:30, this is when you can start creating your meal plan and you can order your groceries or create the list if you're gonna go out and get them yourself, right? Again, it doesn't have to take a long time as long as you have a plan in place and you might say to yourself, This is what I want my weekly meal plan to be, this is what I need, and then you go out and you get them. Or sometimes you could just create your meal plan, order your groceries, or make your grocery list, and then maybe by like 10 a.m., this is when you start doing your Sunday household reset in the house, right? So that might be this is where you start doing your laundry, mopping your floors, and doing any type of cleaning and prep that you need inside of your house. And then maybe after that is when you go and pick up your groceries, maybe you go and put gas, you do all those kinds of things while you're out, and then maybe you come back and this is when you sit down and you like give yourself an hour to just prep your meals for the week, put your laundry away, organize your spaces, and then you're done, right? And then you can literally do whatever you need in order to help yourself to relax into your evening. So, again, this is when you might hit the reset button, and maybe that's when you take a long shower, you do whatever self-care routine you want to do. Maybe you curl up on the couch with a blanket, you watch your favorite show, or whatever it is that you need to do. So, again, this can be as simple or as detailed as you want, and that's all gonna depend on you and what kind of person you are. And again, this is to help you to have a good week. This is to help you so when you wake up on Monday, you don't have so much stress because you have to do so much. This is to help you to wake up Monday and you already have your lunch and breakfast already prepared, your house is clean, your car's gas is full, your car is clean, you have already done all these preparations to have your week feel good and steady. This is you open up your planner and you already know what today is going to um include. You already know that I'm gonna work, and then after work, these are the things that I'm going to do, and it's going to be helpful for you so that you are not stressed when you wake up on our Sunday night, right? Sunday night is usually a time we're like, oh my god, I don't want a month day to come because it's gonna be too much work. I don't want to get up early, I don't want to do this, I wanna do that. And the truth is that a lot of that comes from just being unprepared and really not giving ourselves a plan of what that would look

Recap Plus Share And Subscribe

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like. Okay, so as I'm wrapping up this episode, I just want to review the steps with you again, just so that we can be clear of what they are, and you can literally just do this for yourself when it comes to your next weekend. Number one is plan. Plan out what does your week look like, what is going to happen in your week, what are the important tasks that you need to do, the important dates and deadlines that you have to meet, the important to-dos that you want to plan for. So that's number one. Then you want to prepare, you want to take all the necessary steps in order to prepare yourself, your household, your family for the week. That might include things like weekly meal planning and just cleaning, organizing, and doing the things that you need in order to have a good week. Step number three is to pause and do things that are gonna reset your energy for the coming week. So, again, this can include a variety of different self-care activities that help you to help you to feel refreshed for Monday, help you to reset your energy, and I give you a bunch of different ideas depending on what it is. Okay, my friend, that's all for today's episode. Again, this is meant to just help you, to guide you, to really remind you that we can truly help ourselves to have the week that feels good to us. And it all takes just a little bit of planning and preparation and really taking the action steps needed in order to be more prepared for the week. A lot of times stress comes from us just trying to do things on a whim and not really being prepared and not really preparing ourselves, our homes, right? We don't do anything to help us to have a better week. And so a lot of times it's just really thinking about what are the areas that I really want to prepare for because these are the areas that usually stress me out. I mentioned for me, it's meals, meals. I just they just stress me out. Me having to like think about what I want to make, when I'm gonna make it, rushing around to like put things together. And so I know that on the top of my Sunday preparation list is always meal planning and prepping so that way I don't have to think about it in the in my week, right? So it's really doing all the things that you need so you can have a great week and lessen that stress of you know the Mondays. Like, I hate Mondays can really turn into like I'm ready for this week because I've prepared myself, I've taken all the steps necessary so that I can have a better week. Okay, so I hope this was helpful to you. And if you know someone that could really use this information because they also struggle with the Sunday scaries, please share this episode with her and help her to put together a plan that's going to be more helpful to her and her family. And again, thank you so much for listening. And I will talk to you again next week. Take care. Thank you so much for joining this conversation today. I hope this episode was helpful to you on your healing journey. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode packed with valuable tips and insights designed to empower you. If you found value in this episode, I'd be so grateful if you left me a review wherever you're listening from and share your thoughts and feedback. This really helps me to reach more women just like you. Thanks for listening.