I’ve shared my nighttime rituals and my morning routine with you, so next I thought I’d tackle my after work routine. In particular – How to destress after a long day.
Whether you’re in an office, working from home, chasing the rug rats around, or job hunting – You reach a point each day where you need to stop, relax, and decompress.
While everyone’s go-to tool for relaxing may differ, here are some of the things that help me each day.
Walking: After work, the very first thing that I do is walk home. I’m lucky to live in San Francisco, a city filled with avid walkers, and I’ve always lived within a few miles of the office. While the exercise part of walking is great, the real reason I’ll never give up this ritual is that this is my decompression time. Sometimes I listen to music, sometimes I listen to audible. But I turn off my brain and use this time to recover from the work day and get back to myself.
Cleaning: I’m one of those people who can’t concentrate, let alone function well, if I’m surrounded by a mess. The first thing that I do when I get home is put away the things that I had take out for the day – Coat, handbag, gym bag etc. Next I head into the kitchen and put away the dishes from the night before. I prefer to skip the dishwasher so they’re out on a drying rack from our last meal.
Working Out: I usually workout midday at the office, take a class immediately after work, or head to the gym in my apartment building after I get home. Working out is an integral part of my lifestyle – It helps me control my back pain, keeps me healthy, and improves my sleep. If I don’t wear myself out over the course of the day, it’ll take ages to fall asleep.
Cooking: My main form of therapy is cooking. And baking. I love nothing more than putting on a book on tape and tuning out while I spend some quality time in the kitchen. I do this on Sundays for my meal prep and I do it most days after work. It can be as simple as chopping vegetables or baking chocolate chip cookies – It’s meditative.
Eating: I love food so my reward at the end of the day is a giant plant-based meal. We try to eat together each night and that’s our catch-up time. No phones or distractions. Just us and the food.
Relaxing: After dinner and before I start my nighttime routine, it’s time to relax. The activities vary depending on what I’m in the mood for. If I’m super sore, I’ll head to the bathroom for a long Epsom salt bath. If I’m feeling lazy we’ll watch a TV show with the cats climbing all over us. And if I have work to do, I’ll take out my laptop and get it over with before bedtime.
How do YOU destress after work? Any tips?
