How to Stop Bringing Work Stress Into Your Evenings

A smiling professional walking out of the office, symbolizing the shift from work mode to personal time. Perfect visual for blogs about work-life balance, post-work routines, stress relief, and creating healthy boundaries between work and home.

Ever find yourself exhausted, irritable, or losing your temper after work? That’s often a sign that you haven’t fully transitioned out of “work mode.” When we don’t intentionally transition from the workday into our evening, we carry all the stress, tension, and mental clutter of the workday into our evenings. You might close your laptop, but your mind is still replaying meetings from the day or remembering unfinished tasks. The problem with this is that our nervous systems can’t tell the difference between something we’re imagining and something that’s actually happening, so when we replay a frustrating meeting in our head, our body reacts as if it’s happening all over again, sending us into fight-or-flight. In our modern world, the “threats” to our safety that may trigger our fight-or-flight response are not as obvious, so our bodies don’t always know when it’s safe to relax. That’s why we have to consciously signal to our nervous systems that the workday is over.

Creating a post-work routine helps your body and mind shift gears so you can truly relax, unwind, and be present in your personal life. Even ten to fifteen minutes can make a noticeable difference if you include a mix of the activities outlined in this post in your post-work routine. These small actions can help reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and prevent burnout.

Here are three components of a perfect post-work routine:

1

Emotional Release: Let It Out.

Emotions build up throughout the day, and without release, they can linger in your body and show up later as irritability, tension, or even illness or injury. Giving yourself space to process how you feel about work can help you gain clarity and prevent those emotions from getting stuck or suppressed. Emotions are like a tunnel: the only way out is through. When we allow ourselves to actually feel our feelings, we create space for healing and release.

Here are some activities to help with emotional release:

- Journal for five minutes about what’s still on your mind from the day.
- Talk to a trusted support like a friend or partner.
- Cry if you need to. Crying is one of the most natural ways your nervous system resets. Our tears contain a number of different stress-relieving hormones, so our body is literally releasing stress one tear at a time.

It’s important to note that the goal here isn’t to fix or solve anything, but to acknowledge and release what’s still stuck before moving on with your evening.

2

Active Relaxation: Calm the Body.

Once you’ve released what’s weighing you down emotionally, help your body transition too. Sitting all day, rushing between meetings, or staring at screens can leave the body tense and overstimulated. As mentioned earlier, it’s important to consciously indicate to our bodies that the stresses of our workday are over, so any of the following activities can help accomplish that:

- Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR): Tense and release muscle groups one by one, from your feet to your face. To shorten the practice, you may also choose to group muscles together. For example, you may choose to tense and relax your entire upper body together, then your torso, then your lower body. You can find a guided PMR meditation here.
- Deep breathing: deep breathing is one of the quickest ways to switch your body out of fight-or-flight and into rest and digest. Focus on your breath and either equal your breath or make your exhales longer than your inhale.
- Take a body scan: Spend a few minutes breathing slowly and checking in with how each part of your body feels. If you notice any areas of tension, gently release it.
- Restorative yoga or gentle stretching: Choose slow, supported poses like child’s pose or legs-up-the-wall to physically signal to your body that the day is done. Holding the poses for a few minutes can facilitate the release of emotions. For specific poses that help release emotions, read our blog post, “5 Yoga Poses For Emotional Release.”

These practices help lower cortisol levels, soothe the nervous system, and create a sense of calm.

3

Distraction: Shift Your Attention.

Once you’ve released and relaxed, it’s time to intentionally shift your focus. Think of this step as giving your mind permission to change channels and move from productivity to presence.

Here are some options for shifting your attention:

- Play a game on your phone
- Read a few pages of a book or listen to a podcast.
- Go for a walk.

This final step is about re-entering your personal life with lightness and curiosity, rather than dragging the day behind you.

Work/life balance isn’t just about when we work and when we don’t. It’s also about how much mental space work continues to occupy once the day is done. When we end the workday with emotional release, physical relaxation, and distraction, we are entering our personal lives with a clean slate, an opportunity to recharge our batteries and prevent burnout.

Having trouble with chronic burnout or finding work/life balance? We can help. Contact us today to begin your journey toward a more fulfilling and balanced life.

*Disclaimer: The content posted on this website is for marketing and educational purposes only. It is not, nor is it intended to be, psychotherapy or a replacement for mental health treatment. Please seek the advice of your licensed medical or mental health professional, and do not avoid seeking treatment based on anything read on this website.