I learned when I first became a nurse the importance of 1)not bringing work home 2)not taking home to work 3)how very important it is to find ways to decompress and destress on days off. I am not a "social" person by nature, I do not find comfort in crowds of people, in fact the last thing I want to do on my days off is deal with the general public. I have a few close friends that I can have good times with, but often our schedules just don't mesh. Working opposite shifts from most of my friends and even my husband doesn't help much. Trying to juggle work, home, kids, errands all add up, and usually it all adds up to stress! Mix in traffic and lines, bills, etc and there you have more stress.
I used to try to do everything on my days off, setting unreasonable and unattainable goals for every one of them. I have learned to spend my time more wisely now, as I have gotten a bit older. Yoga is my go-to. Reading in a comfy chair with a pot of tea, for hours (hey, the laundry will get done, eventually, I promise, right after I finish this book; 3 hours and 8 chapters later). Chilling in the recliners while watching a movie with my husband. Gardening when the weather is nice. Taking the dog for a walk in the woods. Sitting outside and just listening to the trees talk to each other as the birds sing their little hearts out. and my ultimate autumn/winter destresser? Making homemade bread, the old fashioned way... yes, that means mixing, pouring and kneading it all by hand. Waiting for it to rise, then punching it down again. Frustrated with a patient? mad at management? fed up with co-worker drama? knead that dough, pound it, take all your frustrations out on it, it won't care.... and when you are done, you will feel better, the bread will bake up light and airy.
The best part is taking it out of the oven, tearing off a huge chunk, slathering it with freshly made preserves/butter/apple butter/pumpkin butter, whatever and eating it. In my world, the moment you get the first whiff of bread baking in the oven, all stress dissipates.
I made bread today, what did you do to relieve your stress?
