Pre-Shift Anxiety: Mental Wellness Tips for Nurses Who Dread the Start of Their Week

For some, the start of a new week signals, a time to start new goals, re-focus or reset. For a large part of my career as an ICU nurse, the start of my work week signaled pre-shift anxiety, nervousness and uncertainty. I would have worrisome thoughts, about how the week would go, would I be able to take a break ect. Due to these negative thoughts I would have trouble sleeping and a lot of mental stress and anxiety before I even started my work week.

I experienced this on Sundays because at the time I had a set Mon, Tues, Wednesday nights schedule, but some of you may experience this any day of the week before your shifts start. 

At the time, I didn’t know how to stop the negative thought cycle and interrupt my anxiety before it got too high. Now that I have gone through therapy and focused on prioritizing self-care, I have been able to reduce the anxiety and reframe my mindset. 

In this post, I am sharing tips that helped me to overcome this. 

Understand the Root Cause of you Pre-Shift Anxiety

The first step in overcoming pre-shift emotions is to identify what’s really driving your anxiety, stress or fear. Naming the source gives you clarity, and clarity allows you to create intentional strategies that address the problem instead of just masking the symptoms.

Ask yourself: What am I dreading most about the start of my week? Is it the workload, the fear of being short-staffed, a challenging patient assignment, or even unresolved conflict with a co-worker? Sometimes the anxiety isn’t about work itself but about how exhausted, burned out or unprepared you feel going into the week.

Practical Tip: Grab your journal and write freely for 5–10 minutes about your feelings. Don’t edit yourself—just let the thoughts flow. Write down:

• What specific situations are triggering my anxiety?

• Are these things within my control, or outside of it?

• How do these fears show up in my body (tight chest, racing thoughts, restlessness)?

• What would help me feel calmer, more supported, or more prepared for the week ahead?

  ***** Once you’re done, circle 1–2 insights that stand out. These become your starting points for creating positive wellness strategies

  
  

For example, if your anxiety comes from chronic short-staffing, journaling might help you see that what you’re really craving is a sense of stability and support. From there, you can explore solutions: maybe having a weekly self-care ritual on Sunday evening, talking to your manager about staffing concerns, or building stronger connections with your co-workers so you feel less alone when things get hectic.

Build a Calming Routine To Start Your Week

Creating a calming routine, will not only help to reduce your anxiety and stress but will also help to set your intentions for the week ahead. If reducing your anxiety and stress is not the focus, it can easily spiral out of control leading you to an endless loop. 

Here are some suggestions of things you can do to create a calming routine:

• Morning stretch, walk outside, exercise

• Deep breathing techniques  throughout the day

• Meal prep as self-care- preparing healthy meals that will nourish your body and not exacerbate your anxiety or negative thinking.

• Journaling- set aside a few quiet moments to journal, thoughts, emotions and goals.

• Tech cut-off time- Set a time to disconnect from your phone. This is especially important to do about an hour before bed. Staying on your phone close to bed time can delay your ability to fall asleep.

  
  

Set Intentions for your week

1. Create a “3-feeling goal” for the week.  Instead of only setting goals based only on achievements, choose three emotions that you want to feel this week. 

Here are some examples: 

• I will remind myself that I don’t need to have it all figured out—just the next step

• I want to feel at peace so I will set boundaries that protect my peace.

  
  

Evening Ritual for Peace

What are some things that bring you joy, peace and calmness? It could be watching your favorite t.v. show, reading a book, a warm bath, eating your favorite snack or going for a short walk.  One of my favorite things to do that brings me joy in the evenings is to watch Living Single re-runs or listen to audio books.

A few hours before bed do something that brings you joy, peace and calmness. If you find your-self thinking about work try the following techniques:

1. Journal: Journaling will help you “dump” the negative thoughts and interrupt the negative thought patterns

2. Reframe your thinking: Instead of “ what will this week bring” try “ I will have a great week”. Instead of “We are going to be short staffed and I will be overworked” try “ If we are short staffed, I will do the best that I can but I will also take care of myself. 

   
   

Ready to take control?

This week take control and implement these helpful strategies. These tips can help you reframe “Pre-Shift anxiety” from a day of dread into a day of reset, reflection, and intentional self-care, setting the tone for a more balanced, confident, and empowered week.

Ready to take control of the start of your work week? Download the Reset Checklist for Nurses and follow a step-by-step guide to reduce anxiety, celebrate wins, and start your week with calm, confidence, and clarity.