How to Relax After a Hard Day

Leaving Work at Work


© iStockphoto/pidjoe

You had a challenging, productive, and sometimes stressful day at the office. You then battled traffic to make it home. Now you need to put your mind at ease, recharge your battery, and refresh yourself so you can do the whole thing again tomorrow.

Yet the house is a mess, the kids are restive, and your partner wants to know what you're cooking for dinner (yes, it's your turn!)

Or perhaps things at home are relatively calm, but your mind is anything but. Try as you might, you just can't stop turning over the day's events – and obsessing about tomorrow's challenges. Your evening leisure hours have been stolen by work thoughts – and before you know it, it will be time to go back.

If either of these scenarios describes your after-work evenings and weekends, you might need to work a little harder at something that seems like it should come easy: Taking a well-earned breather after a long day at the office.

Like most other tasks, relaxation is a skill – one that repays the effort of learning it. Mastering the art of relaxation off the job can make you more rested, focused, energetic – and successful – on it.

Does relaxing really matter?

If you're having trouble resting your mind away from the office, you already know it. But what are the consequences? Here are just some of the troubles the tired and relaxation-challenged face at work:

... for the complete article:

Mind Tools members, click here.

Join the Mind Tools Club to finish this article AND get 1,000 more resources

Join now for just $1, first month

"When I started using Mind Tools, I was not in a supervisory position. Now I am. Along with that came a 12% increase in salary."
– Pat Degan, Houston, USA


Join the Mind Tools Club

Get training, help and ideas to boost your career: the Mind Tools Club gives you much, much more than you get here on the basic Mind Tools site.

And if you join before midnight on May 9th, we'll also give you a FREE copy of our Future-Proof Your Career workbook.

Find out what you get


Where to go from here:

Next article

Free newsletter

Join Mind Tools

Follow Mind_Tools on Twitter
Facebook

1 Day to Go!
Get Our Future-Proof Your Career Workbook FREE


Join the Mind Tools Club before midnight, May 9th, and get our Future-Proof Your Career workbook (worth US$19.99) for FREE.

Join for just US$1

Get the Free
Mind Tools App


Mind Tools Apps

Learn on the move with the free Mind Tools iPhone, iPad and Android Apps. Short bursts of business training ideal for busy people.

Get the Mind Tools App

What Bugs You?


  • Let us know about anything wrong, or anything you don't like about this site, and you could win a US$50 Amazon voucher!

Click here

Sponsored Links