It can be hard to remember that your work life is not your entire life. The workday doesn’t end at 5pm anymore, with notifications pinging on your phone throughout the night. They can probably wait until tomorrow, but a feeling of urgency to respond can easily take over.
You’ve become a workaholic. When your way of life depends on success at work, it’s so easy to become obsessed with staying ahead, even when your body can no longer keep up. Because of this, remember to take a break at the end of the workday and care for yourself and your relationships.
If a meeting ran late and you feel overwhelmed, call in backup. Bring everyone in the house together to help separate work and life, taking time to be together while you conquer the to-do list. Delegate tasks to everyone, like who will prep the veggies for a family meal of Sheet Pan Mediterranean Shrimp or who will attempt to solve the puzzle of loading the dishwasher. Afterward, be impressed that dinner didn’t burn, not that your head didn’t explode on Zoom.
Make time to head out to the park to decompress. Regardless of if you work from home or in an office, we all need a change of scenery. Take a stroll along the paths, stretching your legs and filling your lungs with air that doesn’t faintly smell of paper and printer ink. Forget Cathy in Accounting and instead turn your annoyance to the mosquitos landing on your arms. When you return to the people you care about, you can complain about bug bites as you happily sit down to pizza.
Dedicate a weekend to recuperating from a stressful project. As “The Office” plays in the background, check in with family or plan an evening with a good friend. Feeling relieved that your job isn’t as crazy as one at the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, reach for homemade Parm Pesto Twists dipped in marinara sauce as a mid-afternoon snack, enjoying the taste instead of shoveling food into your mouth before your next meeting.
For the workaholics, taking time to de-stress doesn’t have to be another project. Try these easy ideas to take a break.