Work can be great. Work can be rewarding. And work can be unbelievably stressful. Once the clock strikes 5 and the work day is over, it would be great if our minds and bodies would automatically relax . But that rarely happens without a bit of help. It’s hard sometimes to go from work to home and not be thinking about work or even feeling like we’re still at work. If you have trouble unwinding after the work day, here are 8 easy and fun tips to help you.
1. Talk It Out
Sometimes when something happens at work, we can think and obsess about it for hours when we get home. Take 15 minutes to talk it out with your spouse or a friend. Tell them about your day. Verbalizing it will not only make you feel better, but having someone commiserate with you and maybe even help you problem solve will get it off your mind. The key is once you’ve talked it out, it’s done. Dwelling on it all evening won’t help you relax.
2. Exercise
The last thing you may feel like doing after a full day at work is exercise, but it can go a long way to helping you unwind. Talk a short walk, hop on the treadmill or bust a move to your favourite song. Not only will you get rid of any nervous pent up energy from the day, but you’ll get your endorphins pumping and give yourself a mood boost.
3. Play Time
If you have children, spend some time when you get home just hanging with them. Ask about their day. Go for a walk or play in the yard. Paint. Colour. Just spend time with them. It will help you relax and will also remind you what’s really important. If you don’t have kids but are a pet owner, take a few minutes to give them head scratches and belly rubs. They’ll love the attention and you’ll love giving it.
4. Take a Shower
Hop in the shower as soon as you get home. This is a great way to not only get a few minutes of you time to decompress after work, but it’s also a great ritual to help you switch from work brain to home brain. Use your favourite products and take your time.
There are lots of areas of your life where you might want to make New Years resolutions. Work, your finances, your social life or love life… All of these are great things to focus on. But at least one of your New Years resolutions ought to be to improve your health in some fashion! It doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, though, just a small step in the right direction. Here are 6 great healthy New Years resolutions to make in 2011.
1. Join a gym. Most people don’t have exercise equipment in their own house, so exercise is limited to the warmer months. By joining a gym, you ensure you will be able to maintain a healthy exercise regiment all year round.
2. Sign up for a class. Is it difficult for you to get the motivation to work out? Joining a class might help get you going. Whether your class is yoga, dance, kickboxing, or water aerobics, having a scheduled activity once a week will help you stay motivated.
3. Go for a daily walk. Getting enough exercise is hard to find time for, but one thing we can all find time for is a daily walk. It doesn’t have to be long; even 20 minutes will do. Whether you walk first thing in the morning, on your lunch break, or sometime in the evening, walking energizes you and helps you to get through your day.
Fact of life: Emergencies happen. Depending upon where you live you may have some advanced notice of what types of emergency situations are likely to occur, and as such you should be able to plan somewhat in advance to deal with the aftermath of potentially catastrophic events.
The west coast is famed for its earthquakes. The mid-west has tornado alley. Florida and further up the Atlantic seaboard gets frequently hit with hurricanes and high velocity wind storms. Flooding happens regularly in many areas of the country. Fires can and do happen anywhere, anytime.
All of these scenarios are tragic, of course. Short of some sort of miracle of science and weather control the likelihood of being able to eliminate their occurrences from happening is practically non-existent.
Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in research and development efforts to predict when that next earthquake is going to hit. Damages potentially in the billions of dollars, not to mention the loss of life associated with not knowing where a tornado is going to land and create a wake of destruction would all benefit with breakthroughs in the science of early warning systems.
Coffee is one of those things you either love or hate. Those who love it will swear by it, and those who hate it are full of dire predictions about how bad it is for you. However, although caffeine does have the unfortunately side effect of being addicting, coffee does have a lot about it to love.
Here are a few of the reasons why we love coffee:
- Morning ritual – Let’s be frank: Some of us just couldn’t get out of bed in the morning without the promise of coffee. Although caffeine does act as a wake-up call for the body and the mind, for many people it’s also about the ritual. Just the smell of coffee brewing can be enough to get us out of bed.
- Mental stimulation – It’s no secret that caffeine is a stimulant. Whether you are working late or brainstorming ideas, a cup or two (or four) of coffee can help you get your work done. There is a reason why coffee is served at meetings, and why it is the beverage of choice for writers and freelancers who are working on deadline!
Ah, insurance. If you get it through your company, it’s usually not such a bad thing, but if you have ever had to try to get an individual plan on your own, you know what a nightmare that can be. However, health coverage is a major consideration for every working adult.
Most jobs offer their employees one of several “managed health plans,” most commonly a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), or a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO). Each of these options offers converge benefits and draw backs that should be considered by every individual before settling on one or the other. By referring to the following guide, you should be able to take existing conditions and expected future health care needs into account and choose the plan that’s right for you.
Manages Health Plans
Both HMO and PPO plans are considered managed health plans. Essentially, a managed health plan provides you with varying coverage to doctors, hospitals and x-ray units, and pharmacies and medical equipment vendors. Should you find yourself in need of care, a managed plan will tell you exactly where to go and to what extent your expenses will be covered.
The approved doctors and facilities are known as your “health care network.” With some plans, you can choose to go to receive care from someone that is not on the network, but you will have to pay a larger fee for doing so. Other plans restrict you to only receiving care from network providers if you wish to remain covered. As we will explain below, the main difference between an HMO and a PPO is your level of flexibility to choose your health care provider.
