Or are you feeling something else? Perhaps some nervousness or anxiety, even a sense of dread?

Did you know that what you are feeling has a name? It's a special kind of anxiety and stress that I call "Sunday Night Syndrome."

What's Sunday Night Syndrome? It's when you think of the coming workweek and experience anything from mild anxiety to severe dread.

All of us experience some form of Sunday Night Syndrome (hereafter called SNS), from time to time. The important thing is how often and how severe is it for you.

Let's take a closer look at the different levels of SNS and then what to do about each.

Mild SNS

As I mentioned above, all of us experience a mild case of SNS from time to time. Symptoms can typically include a minimal level of nervousness and anxiety.

The anxiety usually begins on Sunday evening as you are preparing for the next day. These feelings seem to pass quickly and are gone by Monday morning when you arrive at work.

One way to think of them is as a product of continually working five days a week and only having two off in which to recover.

What to do:

• Relax — and remember the feelings will pass.
• Rent a movie, play a game, enjoy being with family and friends.

Moderate SNS

The next stage of SNS is characterized by increasing levels of anxiety as the workweek approaches. The anxiety begins earlier in the day and doesn't seem to pass as easily as in the first stage.

A key symptom of moderate SNS is kind of silly but makes sense at an emotional level — we begin to stay up later and later on Sunday night, in the hope that we can keep Monday morning from arriving.

As a result, we feel sluggish and not rested on Monday morning, which leaves us ill equipped to deal with our feelings and the week ahead.

Other symptoms include increased irritability and inattentiveness around family and friends, as well as the beginning of decreasing work performance. Colleagues and supervisors may begin to notice changes at this point.

What to do:

• In addition to the above suggestions, make sure you get to bed early enough to be rested for the next day. I realize I might sound like your mother here, but it works.
• Identify things in your job that you can feel good about, even look forward to.
• As crazy as it sounds, some clients have found that going into the office, or doing a little work at home on Saturday or Sunday, seems to help at this point.
• If going into the office is not possible, getting as prepared as possible can also help.

Severe SNS

The third level of SNS doesn't wait until Sunday to arrive. It begins on Saturday or even Friday after work.

You've heard of "Saturday Night Live?" Well, this is "Sunday Night Dread."

By the time Sunday evening rolls around, folks are experiencing severe anxiety and a strong sense of dread. Some people become ill at the thought of beginning another workweek.

Depression is common at this point, as well as drinking and other forms of self-medication to try to calm your emotions.

What to do:

• An important question to pay attention to at this point is "what are your emotions and body trying to tell you?" If you don't pay attention, the feelings will usually get stronger. Another way to say this is if you do not pay attention to the "taps on your shoulder" that are trying to get your attention, there may me a 2-by-4 heading your way to get your attention. But that's another column.
• It could be time to consider a change — either in the details of your job or perhaps an entire change of job or career.
• Consult a career counselor to look at what options you have.
• Make sure you are doing something, from talking about it to physical exercise, in order to relieve the stress.
• You might want to seek counseling or coaching to help you manage the stress, emotions and decisions involved.
• Remember that if it's hurting you, it's likely not helping anyone else.

In addition to all of the above suggestions, there are three books that I have recommended before that you might find useful at this point.

"Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work" by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen (Health Communications, $12.95)

"Heart at Work" by Jack Canfield and Jacqueline Miller (McGraw-Hill, $14.95)

"Care Packages for the Workplace" by Barbara Glanz (McGraw-Hill, $14.95)