Work can be very stressful. Often, you come home, drag yourself through the door and find yourself on the couch three hours later, still dwelling on the office. Unwinding from a long day’s work is essential to a healthy work/life balance. Stress can cause all sorts of problems, from depression and insomnia to heart disease and the forming of bad habits.
Luckily, there are easy ways to mitigate work stress when you come home. By incorporating some of these ideas into your routine, you will find that work doesn’t bother you as much, and you’ll be able to relax and enjoy the time you have at home.
1. Leave Work at Work
While it might be difficult if you have a job where you have to be on call, try your best to leave all work where it belongs: at work. Before you leave the office for the day, make sure you have tied up all loose ends that can’t wait until tomorrow. Resist the temptation to forward emails to your home account or bring that project binder home. If you have a work phone that you don’t need at home, leave it in your desk drawer.
Be sure to set up boundaries with your boss and coworkers so they know when or when not to reach out to you at home. Not being haunted by your work responsibilities at home is the single most important item in being able to relax.
2. Get Moving
This is especially important if you have a desk job or a position that requires you to be sedentary at work. A good way to relax after work is to go for a walk or run. This can be a jog around your block or hike in the woods. Moving your body will get blood flowing and allow you to burn off some of the stress of the day. Leave the phone at home, though! This your time to take in some fresh air and relax, not to be stimulated by electronics. You can save searching for Thrive side effects for when you get home.
3. Take a Bath/Shower
Old, cliche commercials aside, a hot bath or shower after work can have amazing therapeutic results. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been sitting in a desk chair all day or working on a construction site; having a good soak can melt away stress and give you some valuable time to self-reflect and decompress.
Turn the lights low, light some candles, and put on some relaxing music. Adding some fragrance to the water can increase the relaxing effects. Allow yourself to unwind and let your mind wander for a while.
4. Listen to Music
It’s true that “music can soothe the savage beast”. When you feel like roaring when you get home, try putting on your favorite tunes instead. It can be a great escape to put on your favorite LP and jam out to your favorite band. If you’re in the mood, get a little exercise while you’re at it and dance like no one’s watching. Really let loose and enjoy it.
5. Read a Book
Speaking of escaping, there’s nothing like coming home, curling up in your favorite chair, and losing yourself in a good book. In addition to stimulating your mind, a well-written story can take you to another world and leave all your work troubles behind. You can even go the extra mile and join a book club to share your reading experiences with others.
6. Journal
You may have grown up keeping a diary. Journalling is much the same thing but for adults. It provides you a way of expressing your feeling, desires, and thoughts in a structured and safe way. Keeping a journal can be very therapeutic and an excellent way to decompress and relax at the end of the day.
Taking time after work to relax is important to your mental and physical health. By practicing these tips, you’ll be recharged and ready for your next day.
Timely post Chantal, the work life balance has been at crossroads from the start of working from home scenario. It is rather surprising to me when people send me emails after about 7-8PM. A part of me can appreciate that they might be more committed to work – another part of me says – unless it is urgent, such emails should and must be delayed to be sent for the next day.
In addition one other thing that works well is to have a routine to close work. Normally when we were in office, the ceremony of turning off the machines would do the trick and then we’d have a commute back home. A new approach would be to have a different routine while working from home so that we can create a separation..