Setting Work Down: How to End Your Work Day

Cwilcox71: Why hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Healthy at Work. It's Catherine here. If you're watching along on YouTube, you'll see my dog, Roux in the background who joins us for these episodes. Happy to be with you again. This week, I'm excited to bring you a practice to help you end your work day. Now, in this digital age, work is always at our fingertips, right? You know, many of us work on laptops, on smart devices, you know, that are constantly on and it's very tempting, ⁓ you know, even when we feel as though we should be done work for the day, to try to fit in that one last thing, right? Or to feel a sense of closure when we're always accessible, right? When our workloads are incredibly high and unreasonable. It can feel tempting to try to find a sense of peace and acceptance and closure in our workday by getting it all done. And yet, it's never all done, right? Our inboxes are always gonna be full. There's always probably one more, two more, or a million more things we could have got to at the end of the workday. And this feeling of never having enough time or work never being complete or ending, kind of creates almost like an ambiant anxiety that many of us feel where, you we feel guilt for not doing more. We're constantly in the background of our minds replaying the things that we've left undone or that we need to get to. And it begins to rob us of, you know, our relaxation, our peace. can be quite distracting when we are done work and we're trying to create time for important people in our life. like our partners or our children or our friends and community. So I wanted to offer this practice as a way of closing out the workday, creating that sense of closure and peace and acceptance for yourself because that is not unfortunately gonna come ⁓ from your work environment, right? ⁓ Because again, work will always be there. There will always be more to do. We always could have done it maybe a little bit differently or a little bit better. So no one is coming to give you that permission, right, to end your work day in your inner world. It's really you that is responsible for doing that. And I'm going to be offering some ideas of how we can do that for ourselves so we can feel a sense of rest and peace when it's time. you know, to step away from work. And when it's time to really clarify that boundary so that again, we can recover, we can rest, and we can also invest in the other important parts of our lives that are not related to, you know, what we do for work. So I'm going to be offering some ideas, some suggestions, and then I'm going to lead you through a bit of a mindfulness-based practice to help you transition. ⁓ first of all, I'd like you to find a safe and comfortable place to do this practice. If sitting at a desk, ⁓ that would be a good place. If you've been working on a work site today or something like that, might want to find a quiet place. Please do not do this while you're driving. are in your car, just make sure it's not too turned on at all and that you just have the next few minutes to relax and be safe where you're located. So find your spot and if it's safe for you to do so, I'd actually invite you to close your eyes. So this allows for some sensory rest as we wrap up the day today. So closing the eyes, feel the support underneath you if you're sitting on something like a chair. Feel that support underneath your sitting bones. If your feet are connected to the ground, just really notice that as well, the way that you are connected to the earth. And I'm gonna invite you to take a few full and deep breaths, just as a way of reconnecting with your body. As we go throughout our busy work days, it is so easy to get disconnected from ourselves. So, breathing fully and deeply here, notice if that just helps you to settle a bit, even in your mind as you come to reconnect here with what's going on in your physical experience. So as we're breathing fully and deeply here today, just notice any sensations in your body. And when we do this, we're really helping ourselves understand the physical impacts of our work day on us, right? Do we notice tension? Maybe we've been sitting a lot today. So are our shoulders up here by our ears? Can we just invite them to relax and drop down? So anywhere where you're tense, and again, many of us hold tension in our upper body here. Just notice if, you know, that's an experience that you're having. And just invite your breath into those areas where there might be tension. It could be in your back. Maybe you've been typing. ⁓ So just notice if there's any tension in your wrists and forearms. Or if you've been sitting excessively today, you might notice some tightness in your low back or your hamstrings. So again, we're not trying to fix or resolve all of that in the moment. We just want to really notice what our body might need from us and where it's at at the end of the day. And as you continue to breathe fully and deeply here, You might also notice any emotional impacts of the work day, right? Maybe you've been supporting people today. Maybe that has had an impact on you and your nervous system. Maybe you've been very busy and very cognitively engaged in your work, very focused. So again, just noticing that. Notice what it is that you're feeling as you prepare to wrap up your day today and... Again, we don't need to fix it or resolve it all in this moment. We just wanna gather this information and become aware of how we're ending our day. And whatever we're experiencing, again, just full and deep breaths here as we try to meet it with a kind and loving attention that this is how it is for me in this moment. This is where I'm at in this moment of time. And as we breathe and bring acceptance to life exactly as it is in this moment at the end of your work day, I invite you to either say out loud or repeat mentally to yourself that I've done enough for now, that this is the end of work today. And you might need to repeat that several times to yourself. And so if that's supportive and helpful to you, invite you to do that now. Just remind yourself, you know what, I've done enough for today. that work is done for today, that there will always be more work. You know, there's more waiting for me tomorrow, but today I've done enough. And you know, as you sit here again with eyes closed and breathing fully and deeply, just see how your body reacts and responds to that message that work is over. I'm safe, I'm done, I've done enough today. And... Whatever arises in response to that reminder, we just want to meet it with a kind and loving attention, right? Kind and loving attention. And if you're having a hard time letting that sink in, that today we're done, that the workday's over, something that can be really helpful as you sit here in this quiet and reflective space is just to review the day and ask yourself, you know, what is it that I did contribute today? I know there might be a lot to get to tomorrow the next time I start my work, but reflecting on the things that you can actually feel good about, and there's always something, right? It might be a small win, you know, a simple task that you completed. It might be the way that you showed up for somebody, a coworker, a colleague, someone in your work environment, a positive exchange you had with a customer, with a client. You know, think about what you contributed today. And take that in, really take that in. You know, we work in a capitalist system, right? And one of the impacts of that is that there's never enough, that we've never done enough, that we're not enough, that our work isn't enough, you that we don't have enough. And so something that can be really helpful and balancing for us is to simply remind ourselves, again, what I contributed was enough today, you know, I did enough. that I did today. So reminding yourself of those things. And when you're ready to, invite you just to slowly open your eyes if you've had them closed and just notice how it is that you're feeling in this moment. And if it would be helpful and supportive to you and if you have something nearby like a pen and paper or if you are at your workstation and you have a calendar or document or something like that ⁓ to write this in, something that can help increase that sense of closure and that the workday is done. is to write down perhaps what needs to happen next. So if you're still noticing that there's things kind of bouncing around in your mind that you need to get to, something I invite you to think about is recording down. Okay, tomorrow, this is ⁓ what I need to focus on. What needs to happen next is X, Y, and Z. And I encourage you to make these bullet points so short. We're not going into work mode again. We're just trying to capture for ourselves and actually contain and put a box around. Okay, these are the things that have to happen tomorrow the next time I start work. So, you know, just take a moment or two. This, you know, should only take, you know, less than a minute, you know, to make a few points around what you're going to tackle tomorrow. So go ahead and do that on your phone, on your laptop, on a Post-it note, on a physical piece of paper as a way of wrapping up the day today. And so taking again, just a minute or two to do this. And just noticing how that feels to put into words some of what might be bouncing around in your own head, right? And what we don't want is those things to continue to take up space in your head as you go into other important areas of life, as you go home, to your partner, to... the people that you care about to your kids as you move into your evening activities, whatever you're going to do. You know, that's time for you. So write it out, put it where you can see it for tomorrow. Okay, so once that's done, once you have your list written down of what you're tackling tomorrow, now it is time just to reset your work area and get ready to physically leave. And if you work from home like me, I mean, you know, actually just walking out of this room or walking into a different area of my home, but you know, it's really important for us to have a ritual to kind of tidy up, reset and. and then move into our evening. So if you are at a computer, for example, you know, close all of the browsers, know, ⁓ to shut things down, save it. You know, you might actually ⁓ physically shut down your computer, power down your devices if you're able to do that. You ⁓ if you don't have to be on call or anything like that. ⁓ go ahead and do those things. You might want to tidy to your work area too. So, you take the dishes away, put away files, lock them up, whatever it is that you need to come back to tomorrow, whatever workspace that you have, make sure that it's uncluttered, that you feel good about where you're returning to, so shut things down. ⁓ If you're at a physical work site, that might mean, again, putting things away, putting tools away. ⁓ You know, wrapping up physically, you know, clearing your area so that you can feel good about what you're returning to. And this also sends a signal, you know, to the brain that work is done, work is closed. So shutting things down, closing things down. Okay, so now that your work area is tidied and organized and you're set to come back tomorrow, you might wanna think about other rituals that you can do as well that just help send that signal to your nervous system, you know, that. work is done, I can relax. That might involve a change of clothes. So if you wear a uniform for work, always feels really good to shed those work clothes and put on something new. You might also think about that even if you don't ⁓ have to wear a certain uniform for work. Changing your clothes can be a very symbolic way of suggesting, okay, I'm done now, I'm in relax mode. So you can think about doing that. If you work for a home like me, you might consider Again, leaving your dedicated workspace, going to a different area of your home, or actually physically leaving your house. I find this really helpful. Is actually just going outside, maybe doing a short walk around the block or something like that. We call it a fake commute as a way of just reminding yourself that there's a whole other world out there ⁓ to explore. And even though we work and live in the same place, ⁓ just connects us again with the natural light and the world outside of the four walls that you're working in. So, you thinking about these types of rituals. Other people also, you know, come up with, you know, things that help them make that transition from work to home. So certain rituals like making a coffee, or maybe it's the time where you go work out, or maybe it's the time where you, you know, call a friend or catch up with your family. Or maybe there's a dog walk that happens in there or something else that signals, okay, it's time now to shift from work mode. So I hope that you found these ideas and practices useful and helpful. If you did, please share this episode with a friend, pass it along. Also, please do let me know if you enjoy these types of videos and practices that are offered to help support you throughout your day. Thanks for joining me today and I forward to seeing you next time. Bye for now.