Transitioning from Work to Home

You trudge back home in evening.

The mind's numb and body feels tired. 

You wonder  ´I have a few hours for myself in evening. But I feel energy drained.  At most, I could probably clear a few emails or watch TV for sometime before I crash. ´

And that possibly is what happens every weekday. By time  weekend arrives, you need space to recover from the tiredness of weekdays.  Saturday flies off and Sunday gets spent in doing a lot of things which could have possibly waited. 

Soon you get a feeling ´Where´s life beyond work and entertainment (in consumerist way we define it today)?´

Is it that you are short of ideas? Possibly not.

You may feel there is so much to do beyond work. You could write a blog, read a book, watch a movie, go out for a walk, hit gym, dance, listen to music, talk to people, etc. But over a period of time you realize you are doing none of these.

Is it that you are short of time?  Maybe not!

Think of extra hours that you decide to spend at work in evenings, as you don´t really know what to do with free time. Or extra hours in evening that drudge/while away, waiting for the day to end.

How do we make those extra hours more meaningful?

I find switching off from work and switching on to something else, in evenings, one of most difficult things to do.

By evening, mind feels still stuck at work. 

I´ve gone through such phases before and found my solutions. Over last month, I have been going through another such phase. I´ve tried previous solutions but they don´t seem to be working this time around.  That makes me wonder ´Is the block at how or at why?´

What are options I have to manage this transition?

My evening cup of tea does help. It´s a physical signal (taste, smell, etc) that tells me it´s time to switch off from work.

But I need some ritual that pushes me back from work to home. I´ve been trying some rituals but with limited impact.

I think there is this phase of uncomfortable forced practice one has to go through. 21 day rule for making anything a habit- maybe I should persist for 21 days with any ritual that I start off with.

Maybe, I should also try building a social network in Hyderabad beyond work and beyond industry crowd.

That´s what had given me sanity in Mumbai. That´s what might work for me in Hyderabad too.

What have your experiences been in transitioning from work to home? Do you find it a difficult transition?

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Sourav