To be honest, we can have days at our 9-5s that are flat out hellashish. We round up our family, take them to our sanctuary called home and then unleash remnants of our 9-5s on them. Innocent bystanders are taken out by the shrapnel of your words. You slay them with the venomous glare in your eyes. And your silence is deafening. The wounded members of your family wonder where are they and how did they get there.
You brought them there. You put them in the hellish hand basket of your work day and carried them to a place of pain and regret. We must make every effort to leave work at work. The opposite is much more difficult to do (leaving home at home) because it is a part of you and work is simply a demonstration of your skills and talents. It’s ok to talk about your day, but its never ok to take out your frustrations on your most valuable players. At the end of the day, the people in your home will remain with you when the job is long gone.
Let’s leave our hand baskets of frustration, disappointment, rejection, and mistakes in the parking lot of the 9 to 5. Find a routine to wind down during the shift change. Our families deserve the best of us, even when we are tired. They deserve our listening ears, a smile and loving embrace. Practice shifting gears. Everyone in the family will benefit.
