It's around 4pm on a Sunday and you're zoning out, mind wandering to the "to do list" of tomorrow when you go back to work. You compulsively check your work email making mental notes of what you'll have to address first. You're also "watching" a movie with the kids not enjoying it, processing it, or even the least bit present. You're grumpy, snapping at anyone that looks your way. It may still be the weekend but the anticipation of the work week lingers over you like a grey cloud on a sunny June day ruining whatever bit of family time and relaxation you're trying to savor.  Sound familiar? This sad tape of despair plays out over and over in houses all over the country. It's a pervasive creeping condition this Sunday Night Anxiety. 

In one session, I was chatting away with a student about taking bubble baths, showers in the dark, walking the dogs, coloring mandalas, listening to music (Duh! Teens are alllll about the music, they just don’t think it’s a coping skill! HOBBIES ARE COPING SKILLS FOLKS!). The student was looking at me with a funny face, she didn’t understand the connection between self-care and lowering her anxiety and stress. I blurt out, “It’s emotional vitamins! You know how you take vitamins to stay healthy and prevent sickness?! EMOTIONAL VITAMINS!”