Six Years of Sundays

At its psychological core, “Six Years of Sundays” examines the insidious nature of learned helplessness and cognitive dissonance as Bailey navigates a life that contradicts her deepest values. The novel meticulously portrays how gaslighting and emotional manipulation gradually erode self-confidence, creating a psychological prison more binding than physical constraints. Bailey’s journey illustrates the psychological phenomenon of “sunken cost fallacy” that keeps her tethered to unfulfilling circumstances, while her vivid dreams and recurring dissociative episodes serve as powerful metaphors for the mind’s desperate attempts to process suppressed trauma. Through Bailey’s interactions with her therapist and her evolving relationship with alcohol as self-medication, the narrative explores how breaking established neural pathways requires both crisis and connection-illustrating that psychological liberation often demands confronting the very pain we’ve structured our lives to avoid.

For Bailey Mitchell, Sundays represent both dread and escape-a fleeting respite before returning to the retail management position she fell into after dropping out of college. What began as a temporary job became a six-year sentence, trapping her between unfulfilled potential and a manipulative boyfriend who slowly drains her spirit. Her poetry, scribbled in hidden journals, remains her only authentic expression in a life where she’s steadily disappearing.

A store-opening assignment introduces Bailey to new connections that challenge her isolated existence. As she rediscovers her natural ability to form meaningful relationships, her toxic partnership with Dom finally reaches its breaking point. When her body rebels with a debilitating case of shingles, Bailey is forced to confront years of stagnation and self-betrayal.

What follows is not self-discovery but self-reclamation-a brave dismantling of the life she settled for in favor of the one she deserves. From Florida’s sun-drenched shores to the peace of the mountains, Bailey’s journey reminds us that sometimes we must lose everything we thought we wanted to find what we’ve always needed.