Last Updated on September 29, 2020
For a lot of people, Sunday isn’t the most joyous of days. It’s supposed to be a day to relax and enjoy the freedom of the weekend, but more often than not, anticipation and dread for the upcoming workweek creep in.
This headspace has many names. The Sunday Blues. The Sunday Scaries. Sunday Sadness. If you know what I’m talking about, you know how real this can be.
Fortunately, there are steps to take to keep the “scaries,” at bay. Chief amongst them, for me, is the Sunday roast. This may sound antiquated—like a tradition your grandma did before Instant Pots and take-out were a thing—but the roast has a place in modern life.
Here are a few reasons why a weekly roast is the best tradition to introduce to your “Sorry Sundays.”
Structure and Accomplishment
Psychologists tout the importance of structure and routine to maintaining mental health, especially when it comes to managing stress and anxiety such as the Sunday blues. By cementing the routine of preparing and executing a roast, your once-nebulous-Sunday now has a positive structure—a regular event that you can plan for, look forward to, and then execute like the brilliant amateur chef you are.
And once you taste your masterpiece—and your tastebuds are singing better than Pavarotti ever could—you’ll have something else, too: A sense of accomplishment. It’s hard to feel anxious when you’re feeling like a boss.
Creativity
Grandma may have made roast beef each week, but that doesn’t mean you have to.
One of the beauties of this tradition is that yes, while you are technically doing the same thing every Sunday, you can do it differently. Creativity, like structure, has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, and if there’s any realm of cooking open for creativity, it’s the traditional roast.
The term “roast” can apply to many different cuts, preparations, and meals. Roast chicken. Chuck roast. Tenderloin roast. Roasted ham. That’s just a small taste of the possibilities—the list goes on.
The roast, like the world, is your oyster. (You can even roast oysters!)
Take Care of Yourself
Many researchers place a healthy diet, along with sleep and exercise, as one of the three pillars of wellness. Which makes better eating on Sundays, a time when we know stress and anxiety can be high, so paramount.
Eat well, and you automatically put yourself in a better position to confront distressing emotions. Think about it this way. If you send a soldier into battle with no sword, no armor, and on an empty stomach, how well would that soldier perform? Same thing applies to you—both in managing the scaries, and in setting yourself up for the week.
Eat well, my friends, and prosper.
Setting up for Success
On top of providing fuel through high-quality meat and veggies, the roast can save you time and energy for the time of the week you are most likely to depleted—Monday night. Roasts are often large, multiple pound cuts of meat, and if you plan it right, the work you do on Sunday will also take care of Monday, in the form of ridiculously tasty leftovers.
No matter what Monday may throw at you, you know that at the end of it, you have a feast waiting for you at home.
There are many factors that go into the Sunday blues—and the tradition of a Sunday roast isn’t a cure-all. It won’t change who you work with, it won’t complete that tedious project for you, and it certainly won’t present for you in your meeting (though thinking of a pork loin discussing marketing strategies is quite amusing).
If done with the right ingredients—and in the way that makes the most sense for you and your time—the roast can make a personal difference to your Sunday state of mind that is much larger than just a meal.
