Creating an After Work Ritual to Improve Work-Life Balance
Is work-related stress impacting your relationships, physical health, and overall wellbeing? Creating your own post-work ritual can reduce stress and increase work/life balance!
Whether you are working multiple jobs to provide for your family, putting in those extra late night hours to chase your dream career, or simply find yourself thinking about work non-stop over dinner with your partner, an after-work ritual can help you find the work-life balance you may be lacking. Even in the case that you love your job, you’re bound to have stressful work days. According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace 2021 Report, U.S. and Canada’s workers' daily stress reached a record high of 57% in 2020. That was an increase of eight percentage points from 2019. Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on work stress levels. If you’re feeling the burnout, there are steps you can take to help reduce the effects of work stress on your daily life.
One tool for managing work stress is an after-work ritual. Rituals have been used since the beginning of humankind as a process of honoring and liberating, often used at the start or end of an event. Rituals can help give a sense of structure and security through intentional action. An end-of-life celebration, a pre-bed hygiene routine, and a morning cup of coffee can all be considered rituals in the intentional way they close out one chapter and propel us into the next.
Creating a personalized ritual to close out our work day has the potential to help us process or set aside work-related stress and move into the rest of our day refreshed.
I invite you to create your own personalized ritual! If you’re a busy person, you can keep your ritual short. A five to ten minute daily ritual is a great place to start. The point here is to create an accessible ritual that can be implemented at the end of every work day. Mix and match the activities listed below, or create your own, to find a ritual that serves you. Allow yourself some flexibility and creativity in this process!
Unplug
Whether your work requires the use of technology or not, allow yourself a break from screens for the length of your ritual. Increased screen time can lead to poor mental health, including lower self-esteem, decreased life-satisfaction, and heightened symptoms associated with anxiety and depression (Neophytou et al., 2019). Give yourself the gift of finding grounding in the physical world by setting aside your phone, tablet, or laptop. It will be there when you’re done with your post-work ritual if you are dying to catch up on the latest tiktok fads.
Move Your Body
Some days, the best thing we can do after work is to get our bodies moving! We know that #exercise increases the release of endorphins into our bloodstream, naturally reducing pain and improving our mood. I invite you to release your preconceived ideas of what this should look like and allow yourself to find the method of movement that feels good in your body. Ideas include going for a walk around the neighborhood, a yoga practice, or a feel-good dance session. Pop on a vibey song and let your body groove, shake, and bounce to feel the stress releasing from your body!
Write it Out
Journaling about our day or free-writing about whatever feels important at the time is a fantastic way to find closure at the end of your work day. Frequent reflective and expressive writing reduces work-related stress and anxiety (Goodman, 2018).
You might prompt your writing with one all-encompassing question, “How am I doing today physically, emotionally and spiritually?"
Here is one quick journal exercise that allows you to celebrate the wins and acknowledge the challenges of your work day:
What happened today that you’d like to celebrate? Nothing is too small. Yes, simply arriving to work with pants on counts!
What is something you would like to leave at work? A conflict with a coworker? An insecurity about your performance? That project that seems to have no solution?
Finish with one affirmation, a statement that declares our vision for tomorrow. Typically in the form of an “I am” statement, but allow yourself to be creative! Examples:
I am worthy of taking up space.
I attract an abundance of creativity and
My job performance does not define my worth.
Socialize
Connect with a friend or family member to remind yourself of life outside of work. A virtual connection via facetime can pull us out of isolating remote work-stress and into the interconnected reality of friendships and social networks. A shared activity with a friend or family member has the potential to distract us, invite laughter into our day, and loosens the grip of internal turmoil.
Do a Mindfulness Practice
A short mindful practice can help you attune to what your mind and body need to release the work stress and transition into the next chapter of your day. Practicing mindfulness can focus our attention in the here-and-now and soften the business of the mind. Introducing a #mindfulness or meditation practice into your daily routine can mitigate the stress, anxiety, and depression associated with change and instability (Behan, 2020). A body-scan meditation, intentionally and fully listening to music, or even doing a daily task (i.e. washing the dishes) with full awareness of your five senses are great ways to step out of the whirlwind of work stress and into the present.
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This list of suggestions for your post-work ritual is NOT exhaustive! Give yourself permission to expand beyond these ideas and lean into the practices that give you a sense of relief, grounding, and connection. Allow some trial and error, and be open to your ritual evolving as your needs change.
References
Behan, C. (2020). The benefits of meditation and mindfulness practices during times of crisis such as COVID-19. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 37(4), 256-258. doi:10.1017/ipm.2020.38
Gallup. (2021). State of the global workplace 2021 report. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx?thank-you-report-form=1
Goodman, J. T. (2018). Reflective journaling to decrease anxiety among undergraduate nursing students in the clinical setting [Doctoral dissertation, University of Northern Colorado]. Dissertations. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1495&context=dissertations
Neophytou, E., Manwell, L. A., & Eikelboom, R. (2019). Effects of excessive screen time on neurodevelopment, learning, memory, mental health, and neurodegeneration: A scoping review. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Advanced Online Publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-019-00182-2
