We Need To Rethink The Sunday Reset

I love a Sunday. When I was younger, the Sunday Scaries were real and overwhelming. But as I’ve grown and learned how to treat a Sunday, I’ve found great joy in a “Sunday reset.” But not the kind of reset TikTok is always trying to convince you to do.

Because the thing about a reset is that it’s meant to restore whatever it is back to its factory settings. It’s supposed to be like when you had to hit the reset button on your Super Nintendo if Donkey Kong froze and then everything came back on, better than ever.

However, social media has tried to convince us that instead of resetting ourselves, we should just be resetting our homes. And I think it’s time to change that.

These social media Sunday resets aren’t just about wiping down your counter every night or emptying your laundry hamper (because girl, you’re supposed to be doing those in your “closing shift” every night, didn’t you know?). TikTok routines and Instagram reels have us convinced that Sunday resets are for you to catch up on the laundry, clean out the fridge, go grocery shopping and replenish your pantry, strip all your beds and put on new sheets, meal prep your dinners for the week, whip up plenty of overnight oats for everyone, and don’t forget to wash your makeup brushes.

Now. Don’t you feel “reset”?

Of course not.

I don’t believe all of the ideas in a Sunday reset are terrible. If it helps you destress to make sure your fridge is clean and that all the laundry is folded and put away, then go for it.

I think we’ve got the wrong idea about the word “reset,” though. It doesn’t have to be reserved solely for our pantries, our laundry rooms, our bathrooms. Sometimes the thing that needs the most resetting in the house is you. When’s the last time you had a full glass of cold water? Were you able to focus on a single hobby or ounce of joy this week without multitasking it with something else? Did you have a complete thought at all this week?

We all try to take care of ourselves during the week, but even on our Monday morning Hot Mom Walks or our podcast-listening on a Wednesday evening, it’s combined with a million other things. We’re making grocery lists as we walk, and we’re washing dishes as we listen, and we’re folding laundry as we watch. Everything is combined, and by the time Sunday comes, we are exhausted. We’ve been at soccer practice and birthday parties. We’ve had to figure out dinner every.single.night.

By the time Sunday comes around, the last thing I want to do is reset my kitchen.

Does it feel good on a Monday morning when I walk downstairs and know that everybody has socks in their drawers, that the strawberries in the fridge are already hulled, and that my floors have been freshly mopped? Of course it does.

But the allure of a Sunday reset really disappears when I find that I’m still frazzled and exhausted, and I feel like the weekend just blurred right into Monday morning without realizing it. When I wake up on a Monday, it doesn’t matter how clean my kitchen is if I’m sipping my coffee and thinking, “Dear God, I need a break again.”

My Sunday resets focus more on resetting myself. On long, leisurely walks with my kids and reading on the back porch and watching whatever random cable network movie is on at noon on a Sunday. I do face masks on Sunday (if I feel like it), deep hair conditioning treatments (if I want to), and wear my coziest sweats and my softest socks (if they’re clean and ready to go). I will pull out my cookbooks and plan out the meals for that week because it feels good and fun to do, but I don’t spend an hour chopping veggies or freezing bags of soup from my Crock-Pot. I will do a load of laundry or two, but sometimes I dig through the basket to make sure I’m only washing the things my family will absolutely need on Monday.

So that I have more time to breathe.

Sundays, historically, have been a time of rest. Businesses used to close; people didn’t make plans. It was a slow day during the week, one that sort of dragged on and on until it was time for bed.

Maybe not everybody woke up on a Monday morning ready to tackle the week, but I have a feeling they at least woke up on a Monday morning feeling a little better than they did Friday night. And isn’t that the whole goal of a weekend?

Let’s take the extra E out of reset and make it a Sunday rest. Besides, you can always change your bed sheets on a Monday.