Advice For Enjoying Free Time Without Thinking About Work

People with a lot of responsibility at work or with a high level of stress may find it difficult to enjoy their free time. It is often difficult to disconnect from what we do during the week. The last discussion with the boss or that encounter with a difficult customer can make us “warm up” even during leisure time.

Therefore, more and more people need to learn to disconnect from work. In recent years, psychology has studied the best ways to promote relaxation. Thanks to that, today we have a multitude of strategies to take advantage of our free time, preventing our head from sitting back at our work station after the workday is over.

how to enjoy free time

Today, there are many techniques that can help you enjoy your free time without work becoming an obstacle. However, some of the most supported by scientific evidence are as follows:

• Use mindfulness.
• Set aside time each day to stress out. Yes, to stress out!
• Set some goals that have nothing to do with the work.

Let’s look at each of them.

1- Using mindfulness

More and more people are interested in topics such as meditation or conscious attention control. Thus, mindfulness includes precisely these goals, providing interesting and complementary lines of work to achieve them.

What exactly does this discipline consist of? In its most basic form, we speak of a “toolbox” that helps us take a break and focus all of our senses on what is happening right now, in our closest environment. In this way, we will be much more resistant to possible intrusive, recurrent and negative thoughts that could hinder our performance.

In addition, mindfulness or mindfulness is intended to be the means that takes us away from anguish, suffering and, above all, from the concerns generated by the anticipation of misfortunes. This brings us back to the present, making it easier for our gaze to be less influenced by a memory or a collection of specific memories when we return to the future. We can say that your tools are good for regaining control of the situation, as we can only act and generate changes in the present moment.

2- Set aside time a day to get stressed

The immediate psychic consequence of a continual connection to work is that worry takes up practically all of our time. Thoughts about our obligations can become obsessive. Thus, enjoying free time becomes an almost impossible task: our minds never stop anticipating possible threats that we would have to face.

To avoid this problem, some experts who move within the framework of ACT therapy recommend setting aside time each day to worry. It is done as follows: for half an hour a day, we will incessantly review all the elements that concern us about our work and we will design solutions.

This practice has a double positive effect. On the one hand, when we’re trying to enjoy our free time and a worrying thought comes up, we can say something like “I’ll think about it later”. On the other hand, after “brooding over” our problems non-stop for half an hour, we may realize that they are not really important for us to spend so much time on them. After a few days in a row, it’s normal to stop worrying so intensely.

3- Set goals that have nothing to do with work

The human being needs goals. So if you don’t set goals outside of the office, your attention and mental resources will remain at the factory or in the office (no matter how physically you are). So one of the most powerful ways to get rid of stress at work is to find something that you love and that has nothing to do with your occupation.

The problem is that we are so tired after work that we just want to lie down to rest. Of course, there is nothing wrong with enjoying your free time however you want. However, setting goals and trying to reach them can help make them more exciting.

So why don’t you try taking up that old hobby? Or maybe it’s the best time to start writing that story you’ve been thinking about for years. Although at first it is difficult to be “productive” in your free time, after a short period of time you will see how your mood improves. Also, your obsession with work will be greatly diminished if you don’t put all your concerns in this area.

The problem we deal with in this article, considering that work has become a precious asset, is very common. Not only do we spend many hours working, we also spend more time with our minds focused on work. In this article, we have proposed some ideas for you to enjoy your free time, away from the challenges that, at that moment, you cannot and do not need to solve. Now it ‘s your turn to put all this into practice.