I recently received an email from one of my clients who said: “I’m okay with moving forward, but I have a difficult time slowing down. How can I slow down at the end of the day?” It’s no secret that career women particularly find it hard to slow down, unwind and decompress at the end of the business day.
Does this sound familiar? If you’re anything like me, you’re a go-getter, confident with what you want, and willing to do just about anything to get there. This often means that you leave the office with your brain still in hyperdrive, focused on plans and projects and unable to make the most of ‘recharge time’.
Slowing down in a society that pressures women to do everything brilliantly is a common challenge. I want you to know that you’re not alone.
Juggling a career, while maintaining a successful home life is already a challenge in and of itself. Let me ask you a question: [tweet_quote hashtags=”#slowdown” ]“How much time do you spend recharging weekly?”[/tweet_quote]
This question helps you get out of your emotions and look at the situation from an objective perspective. If you’re committed to slowing down and spending quality of time with your family, you must learn the necessary skills for how to slow down at the end of the day.
Remember, you can only do so much until you begin to fall apart. There’s nothing wrong with decompressing at the end of the day in order for you to be fully charged the following day. Here are 3 tips that you can implement:
Establish boundaries
As women, it’s easy for us to give, give, give, and then become completely exhausted and burnt-out. In order for you to begin to slow down, you must learn to establish boundaries in both your professional and personal life. It’s important to know your limitations and how to politely decline the request if you have enough on your plate.
Turn off the tech toys
This has become a habit that I personally do every evening. Once my husband comes home from work, I turn off my phone and laptop. I know it may seem impossible, but this is a great way to decompress from work and spend quality of time with your family.
Establish ‘me time’
This one is definitely my favorite one. Ever heard the saying, [tweet_quote hashtags=”#slowdown” ]“Before you can love others, you must first love yourself?”[/tweet_quote] Well, this is exceptionally true as a professional woman today. It’s imperative for you to make YOU a priority. Even if it’s a 15 minutes in the evenings to go walking. Whatever you need to do in order to feel nourished, do it.
If you’re looking to achieve great success in life, not only in your career, but with every aspect of your life, you must learn to slow down at the end of the day and decompress. I don’t want you to experience a crisis before you learn this lesson. You owe it to yourself to be kind to your body, love your mind, and nourish your soul.
