How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
O.k., so now the prompt writers are apparently reading minds??? I was literally just thinking about this early this morning. This upcoming Monday will kick off the summer kids program that I supervise. Hundreds of kids attending about a hundred different classes multiple times a day spread over the course of two and half months. Basically from now until the middle of August. My job has already gone from slow work days to extremely busy, “where did the time go” kind of days. In fact, this morning I will go into my office for about an hour to do some last minute prep things. I really need to. It will help me get everything started well on Monday if I do it now. Less stress to look forward to.
This is still a job that will end at 5:00 though. With the exception of this weekend. This week I really felt the time crunch and pressure to get things ready. I know my supervisor is watching me carefully, only to make sure I don’t burn out and become overstressed. She keeps reminding me that the people on my team can help if I ask them to.
I anticipate needing a lot of time to unplug this summer. I’ll know it based on how I feel. It’s really as simple as that. I’ve gotten really good at identifying what I’m feeling and why. I know all too well what stress does to my body. I let it go too far during the last year at my old job. I was told to “push through it”, to the detriment of my physical and mental health. I won’t let that happen again.
I’m already working on my self talk and shutting down intrusive thoughts about work when I’m not at work. I will continue my after work routine of sitting out back with the dogs and writing. And sitting on the couch and knitting or reading.
I will not let the stress of the day bleed into my time off. I have emotional support movies that I can put on and zone out to. I haven’t needed them much lately, but I’m definitely going to watch one today so I can keep the anxiety from rising about Monday.
This will be the first summer where I am actively working every day. Whereas teachers are now breathing a sigh of relief because it’s summer break, my sigh of relief will come in August when summer break is over. They, and the students, will be going back to school and I will be concluding this summer program. I think it will go by fast and won’t be as bad as I think it is. Through it all I will maintain my decompression routine at home and still revel in the fact that any day at this job is still 100% better than any random day at my old job. That thought alone is enough to help me unplug.
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