Do You Dread Mondays and Live Only for Weekends?
If your week is a countdown to Friday, and Sunday evenings fill you with dread, you’re not alone. For many successful women, this is the quiet reality behind the “perfect” career. Outwardly, you’re accomplished and admired. Inwardly, you’re just trying to make it through until the next weekend.
The Workweek Survival Game
You wake up on Monday already wishing it was Friday. Mornings are a blur of autopilot routines—emails, meetings, tasks that never seem to matter.
A client once told me, “I used to feel like my real life started at 6pm on Friday. The rest of the week was just something I had to survive.”
Maybe you recognize these signs:
The Sunday night knot in your stomach.
Counting down hours, not just days.
The sense that your best self only shows up outside of work.
Finding yourself scrolling social media at your desk, just to feel a spark of life.
Noticing that even your hobbies feel like chores after a draining week.
When did weekends become your only escape?
What would it feel like to actually look forward to Monday?
The Cost of Living for Two Days
The cost of this cycle is bigger than most people realize.
Your energy shrinks, making even the things you love feel like chores.
Opportunities pass by as you focus on “getting through” instead of growing.
Joy gets squeezed into two days, while the rest of the week feels like a waiting room.
Your relationships can suffer, as exhaustion and irritability follow you home.
You start to doubt yourself: “Is this just adulthood? Or is something wrong with me?”
This isn’t just about being tired. It’s about feeling disconnected from your purpose, your strengths, and your own life.
If you want to understand more about the hidden costs of staying stuck, read The Lies We Tell Ourselves to Stay in Jobs That Drain Us.
The Hidden System at Work
You’re not broken for feeling this way. The system you’re in—the job, the culture, the expectations—may simply be out of sync with who you really are.
We’re taught to value security, to chase promotions, to be grateful for stability. But for women who crave freedom, growth, and community, these values can feel like a cage.
Consider Anna, a client who seemed to have it all: a respected role, a good salary, a team that relied on her. Yet every Sunday, she felt a sense of loss. “It’s like my life is on hold from Monday to Friday,” she told me. “I’m not unhappy, exactly. I’m just…not really here.”
Anna’s story isn’t unique. I hear versions of it every week. The real problem isn’t laziness or lack of gratitude. It’s misalignment—between who you are and what you’re doing, between what you value and what your work actually gives you.
Why Settling for Two Days Isn’t Enough
Settling for two days of joy each week is a slow way to shrink your world. Over time, it chips away at your confidence, your creativity, and your sense of possibility.
You start to believe that “this is just how it is.” But it isn’t.
If you’re curious about how to find real fulfillment at work, check out Why So Many People in Their 30s, 40s, and Beyond Feel Trapped in Their Careers.
Coaching Room Real Talk
When we work together, we don’t just talk about changing jobs. We talk about redesigning your week, your work, your sense of purpose.
Here are some questions I often ask clients:
What would it take to bring more of what you love into your daily life?
Where could you say no, so you can say yes to what matters?
Are there small experiments you could try—a new project, a different responsibility, a conversation with your manager?
What did you love doing as a child that you’ve stopped making time for?
Who in your life energizes you, and who drains you?
Sometimes, small shifts can make a big difference. Other times, it’s about finding the courage to create a new blueprint entirely.
A Simple Exercise: Your Week in Review
Try this for the next seven days:
At the end of each day, jot down one moment when you felt most alive—and one moment when you felt most drained.
Look for patterns. Are there types of work, people, or environments that consistently energize or deplete you?
Use these insights to start a conversation—with yourself, with a coach, or even with your team—about what needs to change.
Building a Life You Don’t Want to Escape
You don’t have to settle for two days of happiness a week. Imagine what it would be like to wake up on Monday with curiosity instead of dread, to spend your days doing work that matters, with people who share your values.
This is possible. I’ve seen clients go from barely surviving the week to building careers—and lives—they actually want to live.
If you want to know more about how values shape your career path, check out Who Is Self-Employment Really For? 3 Values I See in My Clients Who Make the Leap.
A Final Reflection
Pause for a moment and ask yourself:
If you could design your ideal week from scratch, what would it look like?
What’s one small change you could make this month to move closer to that vision?
You deserve a life that feels meaningful every day—not just on the weekends.
Curious What Your Week Could Feel Like If You Didn’t Dread Mondays?
If this sounds like your story, I invite you to explore my website and let’s talk about building a career you actually want to wake up for. You deserve more than two days of joy.
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Until our next breakthrough! — Daria
