I always talk about ways that I start my day with our audience, mostly via Instagram, but never about how I wind them down. As a culture, we spend more time focusing on ways to jumpstart our day rather than calming down from one. Both are equally important, but what I love about winding down from my day is that it can shape the focus of your next day. One way of looking at it is that you are setting your future self up for success. In a perfect world, my end of day typically involves drinking some hot tea, planning the next day down to the hours, calling a friend or two, and getting a good night's sleep. Of course, this doesn't happen every night (except for the sleeping part – I try really hard to make this happen), but I do try to slow down, if I can, after a long day.
To give you the best advice, let’s talk to some other young professionals to hear what they have to say.
1. Focus on your health.
There’s nothing a good workout or healthy meal can’t fix (maybe not all of the time, but it feels good, right?)! Katey Gordon, Certified Integrative Health Coach and Founder of Katey Gordon Health, says that there are several ways young professionals can take care of themselves to wind down. These include getting proper sleep, filling your body with nutritious meals, getting outside, and drinking plenty of water. These are things that everyone should be doing, right? Now, in the early part of our careers, is when we should take advantage of this. This means that now is the time to set the habits that will have long-term results in the future. Maybe your ways of winding down include lots of sleep (which is definitely mine), eating a healthy dinner, or taking care of your whole body in another capacity. Whatever your healthy way of winding down is, stick to it!
2. Give yourself mental breaks.
Grace Evans, a 25-year-old Pan-EG Solutions Architect for HP in Chicago, has a lot to say about finding ways to wind down. Grace says she tries to take mental breaks and other things that create a respite for her from stressful work life. She also shares that giving yourself a second to breathe and not focus on work, friends, health, or anything else, is so important. Personally, I find that weekends are my best time to really unwind, so when I open up a laptop or planner to crank out some work on a Saturday, I have to give myself time to stop and focus on mental breaks. After all, we are not meant to work 24/7.
3. Wine helps, too.
Although this may contradict what our friend Katey shared above, there might be some alternative ways to wind down. It's not like we are not telling you to drink a bottle every night here! Olivia August, a 26-year-old (previous) Water Resources Engineer in San Diego, says that one of her favorite ways to unwind is by cooking, and that wine also helps after a long day. I would have to agree! Cooking is therapeutic for me and a glass of wine every now and then also doesn't hurt.
However you choose to unwind after work or on the weekend, just remember to do it.
How do you wind down from a busy day? We want to know!
