How To Create A Peaceful After-work Time

Posted on March 31, 2010 by LJ

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Photo by Per Ola Wiberg ~ Powi

My days, like most people’s, are filled with activity. I hit the ground running, have a full and busy day at work, then rush home to get my daughter off the bus before doing a multitude of tasks and activities in the evenings.

This frenetic pace is detrimental to my attitude. I find myself cranky and unreasonable if I rush from work to home to activities without taking time to slow down. And if I’m cranky, guaranteed my daughter will pick up on it and really push all my buttons.

My secret for getting through this? Taking time to make deliberate transitions.

Finding the Transition Times

When my daughter was a toddler, I realized that she did much better if there were smooth transitions between activities. Giving her a warning that play time was almost over and bath time was coming was much more peaceful that making an abrupt change. What I never realized is that making deliberate transitions happen was good for me, too.

The key to making this happen is examining my reactions to find the ones best transitioned gently.

When Am I Most Tense?

The key to finding when to take a break is to figure out when I am the most tense. For me, the two times are on the commute home, and when my daughter gets off the bus.

Backing Off

Once I realized when I was tense, I backed off on those times and made changes in what I was doing.

Before leaving work I take 15 minutes to wrap up. I used to program frantically up until the last minute, then scramble to get my project time entered. Now I use Outlook to remind me to put in my time 15 minutes before I leave. This gives me time to wrap up whatever I am working on, leave notes for where I need to start in the morning, and get all my paperwork done.

Before the bus comes I take some time to sit. I used to get right into the housework the minute I walked in the door, trying to get as much done as possible before my daughter came in. Now I sit for 10 minutes with a cup of tea before doing anything.