How to Decompress After a Stressful Day at Work

Who hasn’t had a stressful day at work?  And most especially for entrepreneurs, stress at work is a huge part of their lives.  They’re trying to make a go of it on their own and with that comes fear and anxiety.  Often, people have to deal with difficult bosses or co-workers.  Often there’s too much work at the office to even get accomplished in one day.  There are deadlines to meet on time and other demands to be met as well and it often leaves us feeling like we having nothing left in us at the end of the day.  But if you take some time for yourself, even if it’s just thirty minutes or less, that can make a big impact and most especially help with job performance the following day.  Here are some tips for decompressing after work.

Turn off technology.  While many people like to go home and just turn on the television and zone out or play on their iPhones or iPads (which I often do myself), take some time to reflect on your day.  Find a quiet space in the house where you can be by yourself, even if that means just a ten minute shower.  If you’re lucky enough to have a terrace in NYC, go spend some time on it with a glass of wine or take a stroll through the streets and do some window shopping.

Meet up with friends for a fun night.  Often, your personal life gets neglected when you have a stressful day or week at work and so it’s difficult to motivate yourself to make time for important people in your life.  This is most especially true with entrepreneurs who often have to give up that time and focus all their attention on getting their businesses up and running 24/7 but don’t lose contact with the outside world and the people that are most important to you in it.

Read.  If you haven’t had a chance to pick up the paper and see what’s going on in the world, do so.  If you’ve been dying to start a new novel that has peaked your interest, do so as well.  By reading, you get to immerse yourself in another world and it’s often more soothing than listening to a loud television show because you get some peace and quiet and can drift off into someone else’s world.

Exercise.  While some people are forced to exercise to keep off weight and hate going to the gym, exercise isn’t just about maintaining a healthy body; it’s also about maintaining a healthy mind.  Along with exercise, comes endorphins which can help boost self-esteem and make you vastly happier.  Slimming down or bulking up is great but exercise plays another role in our lives that is often more important.

Go to the movies.  Instead of sitting at home and lying like a lump on the couch watching a movie where you can constantly be distracted by others, take some time to go to the movies by yourself and just like with a book, you can immerse yourself in another world.  Have a big popcorn and soda and remember what it was like to be an excited child going to see their favorite superhero on the big screen.

Follow your passions.  One of my favorite things to do is write after work.  Get back in touch with the things you love to do that you often don’t have time for because you’re so consumed by work.  Look at old pictures or create a scrapbook.  Turn on a baseball game or any other sport for that matter and cheer on your favorite team.  Remember, try to get lost in all you do in your free time away from the stress of the workplace.

While it might not work for everyone, try meditation or yoga.  If that’s not getting the job done, light some candles and take a relaxing bubble bath.  Put on your headphones and zone out.  Always remember that “me” time is important and that even if you have a crazy life to come home to with a partner or children, that there’s a difference between being selfish and putting yourself first so do, in fact, put yourself first.

Go on social media that you haven’t had time to all day while at work.  Go on Facebook to catch up with old friends and reconnect with what’s going on in their lives.  Or go on Twitter and catch up with what’s been going on in the world.  For me, I quite enjoy Pinterest – creating my own boards and looking at other people’s photos, soothes me so maybe you might find that it does the same for you.

Call up and old friend or write a letter or email to someone you’ve lost touch with.  Reconnecting with people you haven’t had time for in a while due to the high-stress demands of work is important and can only enrich your life.  Also, it’s a great way to vent and discuss the mutual demands of work or just talk about fun things and have some laughs.

Do anything you haven’t done in a while which could include: giving yourself a facial or doing some online shopping or even creating a new iTunes playlist.  Try doing all the things you’ve been putting on hold for such a long time.  If cleaning up the house or cooking a nice meal soothes you, than do so.  If you prefer to put off chores and just order in, do that instead.

Lastly and maybe most importantly, try spending five free minutes making a to-do list of what you plan to get accomplished for the week ahead at work.  While you might want to completely put work out of your head when you come home, if you organize the upcoming week, you’ll feel much less stressed when you do return to work.

So what have we learned here today?  Are some of these tips things that help you decompress after a long, stressful day of work or have you found other methods that help you more?  What are some of your favorite things to do that keep your mind occupied and make you forget about the hassles of work?  Leave a comment and let me know.  Let’s start up a conversation!

Here are some articles you might want to check out about decompressing after work:

“Easy Stress Relief: 5 Ways to Decompress in Just 5 Minutes”: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/24/easy-stress-relief-5-ways_n_3017084.html

“Fresh Ways to Decompress: Stress Busters That Really Work”: http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/08/healthmag.energy.boosters/

“Decompress after Your Day at Work”: http://www.healthyradianceskincare.com/decompress-after-your-day-at-work

“Job Stress? 12 Ways to Decompress”: http://martinamcgowan.com/2012/07/job-stress-12-ways-to-decompress/

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Until next time…