It’s hard to shift instantly into languid after you’ve been frenzied all day. And with free time in such short supply, you don’t want to waste it waiting for your nerves to stop jangling.
How can you make the transition to relaxation more quickly?
Mark L. Held, a Denver psychologist, has these three tips:
– Start de-stressing on the way home by listening to soothing music, reading a novel, tensing and relaxing your muscles.
– Invent a ritual-slipping into special comfy clothes, brewing a cup of tea-that signals that stress is over. These cues can can help induce relaxation, Held says in the April issue of McCall’s.
– At the start of a weekend or vacation, jot down everything you want to attack the day you get back, then tell yourself there’s nothing you can do about them until your return.
This will help trick you into thinking you’ve already started the tasks, so you don’t have to dwell on them during your time off.