Every Sunday around 5pm, the dread would start. By 10pm, Priya couldn't sleep. Lound helped her understand why, and build a Sunday ritual that actually helps.
Priya is a product manager at a fast-moving startup. She loves her job most days. But Sunday evenings feel like standing at the edge of a cliff. The week ahead looms. The to-do list multiplies in her mind. Sleep becomes impossible.
She starts using Lound on Sunday nights, just to get the thoughts out of her head. What she discovers surprises her.
"Can't sleep again. Monday is going to be brutal. I have that stakeholder meeting, the sprint planning, three 1:1s, and I still haven't finished the roadmap deck. My chest feels tight. I hate this feeling. I hate that I can't just... relax."
"It's starting already. The weekend was actually nice but now I can feel the anxiety creeping in. Like clockwork. Why does my brain do this? Other people seem to handle work without dreading every Monday."
I've noticed something in your Sunday entries. The anxiety spikes between 5-6pm, peaks around 9-10pm. But here's what's interesting: in both entries, you listed specific tasks. Stakeholder meeting. Sprint planning. The roadmap deck.
Your anxiety has a playlist. And it plays the same songs every week. What if we looked at those songs individually instead of letting them blend into noise?
What do you mean by the anxiety has a "playlist"?
Look at what you've mentioned across your Sunday entries:
These aren't random worries. They're the same worries on repeat. And notice: stakeholder meetings top the list. What is it about those specifically?
I guess... I feel like I'm going to disappoint people. Like they'll realize I don't actually know what I'm doing.
Imposter syndrome. That's not Sunday anxiety. That's a deeper fear wearing a Sunday costume. What if your Sunday prep wasn't about the to-do list at all, but about reminding yourself of evidence that you do, in fact, know what you're doing?
"Trying something different today. Instead of listing what could go wrong, I'm listing wins from last week. I shipped that feature. The stakeholder meeting actually went well. My manager said 'great work' in Slack. These things happened. They're real. I'm not making them up."
"The anxiety is still there, but quieter. Like it doesn't have as much ammunition."
This is usually when the spiral starts. But you've done your wins list. You've named the real fear. Tonight, what if you wrote down one thing you're actually looking forward to this week? Even something small.
Priya's anxiety didn't disappear. But it became something she could work with.
Not "Monday anxiety." Imposter syndrome wearing a work costume.
Lound checks in at 5pm, when it starts, not 10pm when it's too late.
Wins list. Proof that she actually does know what she's doing.
Priya still feels the 5pm flutter sometimes. But she has a ritual now. Wins list. Name the real fear. One thing to look forward to. By 9pm, she's usually reading a book instead of spiraling. The anxiety still visits, but it doesn't stay for dinner.
If you know when the dread is coming, you can prepare for it. Lound helps you map your anxiety patterns and build rituals that actually help.