A week can be tough and can cause a lot of stress. There’s so much to do, and it takes a lot of energy. That’s why we decided to create The Power of a Sunday Reset: Recharging the Mind for a Stress-Free Week. A ritual we do weekly after we’ve planned everything for the upcoming week. The whole idea behind this mental reset is to recharge our batteries. To stop overthinking for a moment and to avoid the risk of burnout or a post-weekend crash where we go mentally crazy. It’s also a time for us to connect as a couple, without distractions. We’ve been doing this ritual every Sunday afternoon for a while now, and we’ve realized it’s incredibly helpful, so we wanted to share our Sunday reset ritual with you.
The Coffee: A Moment of Indulgence
We usually always go to Aarau, the closest “bigger” city to our home. And because Nicole loves Starbucks, we go there and she treats herself with a good cup of coffee. As you might know, I personally don’t like coffee, but sometimes I still order something for myself, like a chocolate drink or a refresher. And recently, I’ve fallen in love with their cinnamon rolls. I even tried to make them at home , and soon i will let you know how it turned out!
Back to the topic: Nicole used to treat herself with coffee back in Costa Rica, and it was her ritual to treat herself after a hard week or a hard day. And I’ve actually started to like that ritual a lot, because sometimes it shouldn’t always be about the hurry or about to rush. Sometimes, it’s about a cup of coffee (or another drink) and just enjoying the moment, taking the time to breathe. Life is already hard enough, and it’s not necessary at all that we also rush ourselves on a normal Sunday. Find something you like and treat yourself with it – it’s a simple but powerful act of self-care.
The Walk: Disconnecting to Reconnect
After we’ve gotten our refresher or coffee, we usually want to spend some time just walking along the river or around the city. It’s all about time for ourselves. It’s time to enjoy the moment together, the moment in nature, away from distractions by phones or anything similar. Just time without rush, without pressure, without any kind of stress. Just enjoying the time together and walking (or sitting if we find a bench on the way). Sometimes we stay for 30 minutes, sometimes we spend 2 hours in Aarau. It completely depends on how we feel and on how much is going on in our minds. The goal is to clear the mind as much as possible, and sometimes that needs more time, and that’s totally fine. We just go by our feelings.
Screen Away: A Digital Detox
This time should be without distraction from any phone or notification in general. It’s time to disconnect and to completely reset, to breathe fresh air, to enjoy nature, and to just breathe through. The weeks are usually busy enough with a lot of distraction and a lot of notifications or any other things that disturb our mind or drag us down. Without any of those distractions, it’s way more easy for us to allow ourselves to reset our minds, to reset our anger, and to reset our mental state. Sometimes we don’t even talk for a moment with each other; we’re just walking together, trying to reset our brains, to reset our minds, and charge our batteries.
Checking In with Each Other: A Safe Space for Honesty
Even if there are moments of silence, of course, most of the time we talk with each other while walking or sitting on a bench. We’re checking in on each other. We ask each other how we’re feeling and how we can help each other to feel better. Weeks can be tough, but with the support of each other, it makes it way more easy to just let bad things go.
We are completely honest with each other and talk about everything that comes to our mind. About our work, about our side projects, about our private lives, about our dreams, about what we need to change. We talk about things that we hate, things that were annoying us this week, about what we would like to do with those people that were annoying us. Both of us literally let out everything and tell each other everything that is bothering our soul and let go of it.
How It Helped: Moving Mountains, Healing Minds
I cannot tell you enough how much this ritual has helped me to get rid of so much stuff that was on my mind for months and even years, bothering me week after week and draining my energy. If I had known that simply letting it out would help so much, I would have done it years earlier. But I’m incredibly glad that we’ve grown so much in our relationship that we can trust each other with everything.
This ritual can truly move mountains, and not just for one person; it can positively impact a relationship as a whole. It’s like having a psychologist without paying for it. And of course, sometimes one person is more grounded than the other, depending on how their week went. In those moments, it’s so important to let each other speak out without interruption, so both can feel more calm, more grounded, more relaxed, and truly reset.
I’m a person who has struggled with mental health issues for quite a while now. Anxiety, burnout, boreout, and emotional breakdowns – I know all these things inside and out, and it’s difficult sometimes. I don’t want to tell you that this ritual makes the problems disappear once and for all; definitely not. I still feel depressed, have anxiety, and sometimes feel emotionally destroyed. But for us, this ritual is a way to reduce the weight of all those things. Over time, those burdens can get very, very heavy, and with this ritual, we are able to release at least a little bit of the stress, the anxiety, the anger, and all those overwhelming feelings. We are able to recover a little bit. And doing it week by week, it genuinely helps us survive in a world that is often hard.
Try It Yourself: Find Your Own Ritual
I hope this gave you a little insight into our Sunday reset ritual. If you are also struggling with anxiety, depression, or emotional energy, I highly recommend trying to figure out your own Sunday reset ritual. It doesn’t have to be the same as it is for us, but if you have a ritual, it can definitely help you to reduce some of the weight that you are carrying. I speak from experience.
It can be a super small ritual; it doesn’t have to be something crazy, and you don’t even have to spend money for it. Just try some rituals out and figure out what works for you. If you want to have more insights or other rituals that we tried, or other ideas, or if you want to talk about your story, then let us know. We know how hard it can be in this world, but we make it slowly, day by day. Therefore, my friend, try to find your ritual and stay strong!
Have you already found something that helps you reduce stress and feel more calm? Share your experiences in the comments below!