The ultimate Sunday Scaries: How to cope with the January return to work

Forget Blue Monday, the Sunday before going back to work after the Christmas break may be the scariest day of all. Here’s how to cope.

You know the feeling. It’s the end of the weekend, you’re feeling good, content even. Belly full from the warmth of a roast dinner, cheeks pinched pink from a stroll in the park. When, like a visit from some corporate underling of the Grim Reaper, harbinger of emails and dread, it comes.

The Sunday Scaries.

Indeed, in 2025, it seems the nation had a particularly bad case of pre-Monday dread, with Google searches for ‘Sunday Scaries’ up 84 per cent year-on-year as work-related anxiety flourished.

So, what to do today, on the ultimate Sunday Scary – the return to work after the Christmas break?

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With the help of executive coaches, mindfulness experts and City AM cynics, we’ve gathered five tips of varying helpfulness to help you battle the beast in 2026.

1. Shift your mindset

You’ve heard it before, but the brain really is a powerful thing, so shifting how you think........

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