How to Recharge Your Tired Brain After Work

5 Comments: How to Recharge Your Tired Brain After Work

1. I have questions as a family member of those who need this down time. How much is too much? I have a spouse and a 14 year old boy who both have this need for downtime.
   I try to accommodate but the need seems to have no ending.
   My 14 year old has homework, chores, things we might need to discuss, needs to be ready for the next school day etc.. but seems to need the full 4pm to 10pm to refuel. I don’t want to be working on homework or anything else with him at 10pm. How do I help him or teach him faster ways to refuel ?
   On another note related, My husband also functions this way (downtime from 6pm to 11pm) it leaves me to take care of the family and household needs by myself while trying to be quiet and keep the activity level down so that he can relax. I don’t want this for my son.
   I understand a need for downtime but this is limiting everyone in the house.

2. This article was written just for me! I have trouble staying composed all day long (9 hour office work day) and just want to “shut off” when I get home. Shutting off for me is going to my recliner to crochet and watch tv shows until bed time. However, after getting off work at 5PM, the kids need picked up and supper needs made. Other various obligations need filled, like activities, homework help or light house keeping. I’ve tried relaxing for 5 minutes before cooking but found I need to get right to it, we are hungry! Part of my solution is deciding what to eat at least one day ahead and jump right into cooking when we get home. I promise myself that after cooking, eating and a couple small tasks I can have the rest of the night “off.” This helps a ton. During the day at work I keep a sticky note for that day and write down anything I need to remember/or do for that night or the next day. This simplified list keeps me on track and isn’t too daunting. One of my lists might look like this: Hamburger out from freezer, clean off one section of kitchen counter, snack for work tomorrow, clean one toilet. I also keep another sheet of paper on my desk for everything that pops up in my mind that needs done. If I have it in writing it won’t be forgotten so I can quit worrying about it. This way if I have more ambition I can start tackling that list too. If not, those are things that can be gotten too on the weekend or another time (maybe even delegated!). It’s so easy to shut off after a long day, but unfortunately life doesn’t stop moving. Lately I suffered from an ankle injury – 8 weeks and counting. My to do list has bloomed out of control as I can’t move around very well yet. Several cleaning/organizing tasks keep weighing on me. Last night I was determined to do one step of each of the 3 jobs. It felt so good to get something done I did about 3 or 4 steps of each project. Go me! Half the work is just getting started. I felt so much better about sitting down and relaxing for the rest of the night after that. 🙂

3. Lol you are right about the smaller steps. The last project i completed at home was a fence. Since we had a pool going in, this was required. I am notorious for starting things and not quiting until they were done at ever decreasing standards. So this required a relatively high standard of workmanship something i would only be able to do if i broke it down to manageable chunks that left me with some energy. I did the holes and the posts one weekend, then one section each night after dinner. The result was far better than i expected but it convinced me along with the rec room disaster i had done the winter before that an expert was needed to reach decent standards and I hired one after that. I confined my evenings to maintaining the landscaping in shape shovelling snow and never again felt guilty about staying late to finish my paid work. Weekends were spent doing laundry, vacuuming and grocery and other errand shopping.
   My only regret was my inability to hire an expert to do my school homework 25 years earlier. Didnt finish high school as my total recall was mistaken for cheating..and my absence of any notes or completed assignments signed my eviction notice on my 16th birthday in Grade 11.
   It didnt make a lot of sense for this pension and Benefits Consultant and My Actuary to bill a total of $ 550 an hour and then to leave work to be late with clients reports while we attempted to be construction workers.
   Who knows if i had finished high school i might have made something more than 250k a year 95-05 limited to working 1000 hours/yr a choice I made after a severe bout with cancer in 93-94.

4. Suggestion – can you make your articles shorter? I can’t pay attention long enough to read all of them. Thanks!

   1. I agrees