Want to be more relaxed at work? Yes, you can!

Does this sound familiar? After a stressful day at work, even hours after getting home, your head’s still buzzing with thousands of worries all at once. What about the deadline that urgently needs to be met? How many unread emails are still waiting in your inbox, each of them demanding an answer? And while you’re about it, you can take a quick look at your smartphone. Before you know it, your free time is dominated by thinking about your job. That’s not what I’d call true relaxation. But when you’re working, too, pausing for breath sometimes feels impossibly difficult. The to-do list seems endless. Documents are piling up on your desk. There’s one deadline after another to meet. High time to take action! Which is why I’ve put together a few uncomplicated tips designed to get you so relaxed that Buddha himself would turn green with envy.

Exercise

The acknowledged classic among all the things that are good for relaxing and distracting you. What could be better than pushing yourself to your physical limits and forgetting everything around you?! Endurance training can be particularly effective. This post relates how some of our colleagues from the facility in Neutraubling have found few sometimes rather extreme ways to improve their everyday work/life balance.

But no need to worry, couch potatoes: you don’t have to start with a half-marathon straight away to free up your head. Basically, any kind of exercise will kick-start your circulation. Upping your oxygen intake every day for ten to thirty minutes and getting out in the fresh air will already help to forget problems or stress in your job – at least for a short while. A walk or a lap of jogging through the woods often puts seemingly insoluble tasks into perspective. Your body is able to shake off the stress symptoms, your head is given a thorough airing, and you return to work with a fresh spring in your step.

Music

Whether it’s at work or in the evening: music is a welcome distraction! As a break in-between (for some people during work as well, and in your free time particularly) listening to music is pure relaxation. Perhaps heavy metal isn’t necessarily the most appropriate genre to choose, but that’s all a matter of personal taste.

And it’s all the better if you’re able to play a musical instrument. This is probably not going to be possible in most offices during working hours, but when you want to lower your stress levels in private it’s a good alternative for letting off steam. And if you don’t happen to play an instrument, there’s no need to feel unlucky. No, no, you can simply wash the stress out of your system by drumming on a table. Perhaps wait till you get home in the evening, though.

Communication

This is a pretty self-evident tip: talk about the pressure you feel at work. Sounds very obvious, but often enough you’re reluctant to burden friends and family with your work-related problems. However, outsiders are frequently able to view certain issues from a different perspective. Communicating your stress not only distracts you from it, but also reduces it at the same time. And conversations among friends can be combined to wonderful effect over a relaxed beer or three in the evening and some good food. An ideal way to put your life back into balance. And bound to banish your problems from your head.

Rituals

It’s always a help to create some habits for yourself that are regularly practised. Deliberately taking time to wind down. Getting up from your desk and walking around for a bit every morning, for example.

Another helpful ritual (though indubitably difficult to achieve for many of us) is to stop checking your emails at the weekend or after work. The more daring among us might even venture a more extensive digital detox: switching off the smartphone entirely from a certain time onwards. This is in truth a bold decision, but the experience is worth it.

Variety

One trick that’s easy to incorporate into your daily routine is to create some variety in it. Working continually at the computer and monotonously staring at the screen can be particularly tedious. Simply putting some things down on paper first may seem a bit laborious initially, but it’s incredibly relaxing. Or put aside the order that’s giving you the biggest headaches and deal with something else instead. And when it comes to variety, this is unbeatable: whenever possible, put the work on the back burner, get out of the office, and enjoy some free time. After all, tomorrow is another day!