Mrninja9:
A few years ago I was transferred away from the Family for 6 months to work on a project. 12+ hour days and no one to come home to at the end of a stressful day. I went crazy the first few weeks.... would get home stressed and no one there to tell me its ok... I feel ya on this... hard to comfort oneself in this situation.
I started a routine that I continue to this day....
Leave work (no matter what time of the day/night) and drive/ride for 15-20 minutes with no radio or noise, just the hum of the wheels and engine and the occasional car next to you. Take in the sights, person walking down the street, animal on the side of the road, clouds overhead or stars, whatever... just don't think of work.
Then when you get home, park the vehicle, get out, and take a deep breathe of air... let it out slowly... take another.... and repeat several times. Just relax and let the mind drift... hard at first, but gets easier.
Start a routine when entering the aparment/house... mine was, enter the apartment turn on radio (jazz or blues), remove shoes, turn on shower, remove clothes, take shower, put on comfortable clothes to hang around in, heat something to eat and eat, then turn off the radio and watch some TV (not anything in particular) for background noise. Never go straight to bed, no matter what time you get home.
**** research shows that it doesn't matter what time you go to sleep at night, its what time you wake up that sets your bodies clock for the day****
After all this, pick a day of the week that you are going to treat yourself... I chose Saturdays because that was to be the end of my workweek according to the schedule. I would get off work and go to a place called the "Happy Panda" for dinner every Saturday night. I remember when work got real stressful I would think of Saturday night sitting down at the "Happy Panda" and a great meal. It would help me get through the shift. Just make sure on your Saturday you go out and treat yourself.
To this day I still ride home in the quite mode, take 15 minutes to relax and treat myself. Every other Tuesday night I go to a Friends place for dinner, Wife is at work and the kids stay home. I go by myself at around 7pm and stay until he closes. I look forward to this night and its a nice reward when it arrives. I have a routine when I get home that I stick to both in the morning and at night. The trick is not to have to think about what you need to do, just do it.
I wish you the best my friend and hope it works out for you.
gp
