I listen to heart monitor alarms all day long at work.  My mind must be constantly alert and listening subconsciously for these (which can be life-saving) along with patient call bells, patient screams, code blue announcements, my work cell phone, my personal cell phone, the unit landline, and whatever else is going on.

By the time I get home my ears and brain are fried, but a new set of noises starts. The exhaust fan is on over the stove. The TV or computer might be blaring. I am immediately bombarded by the insistent requests of my family who has been awaiting my return, with homework and dinner and school papers and wanting to talk about their days. I am excited to see them too, but I am overwhelmed by the sounds and busyness.  My mind is still in fight or flight mode, but needs to be in nest and rest mode.  I want transition time.

Usually I get off work late, sometimes after 8pm, and I want to make every moment count before we put the kids to bed and eventually collapse.  But it’s just not that easy.  I feel the need to first wash the aura of other people’s feces and disease off my body.  I want to reset my brain to stop being hyper alert. In the meantime I only have one foot in the door and the rest of me is distracted and crabby.

I have started taking 15 minutes to shower and decompress in silence every evening before trying to focus on my kids—and it does wonders. Everyone in my house now knows to let me do this.  I go straight upstairs to rinse the workday away before they tug on my shirt and ask me to look at something or do something. Until I shift gears from work to home I can’t really be myself and relax.

I also have a hard time with the following transitions:

1. Waking up…to doing something productive in the morning on my days off
2. Getting out of the house…to exercise in a timely manner
3. Being busy…to slowing down and going to sleep
4. Focusing on my kids…to taking time for my romantic relationship

Transitions are important but don’t get enough attention. People don’t usually budget time for crossing the delta between activities that require different brain cells and a change in skill set. Taking a moment to properly reset can lower stress and increase productivity. It allows for less distraction and more intensity in the now.

Planning for transitions can also set limits on mindlessness.  (Such as 2 hr Facebook/gaming/YouTube time sucks!)  Repeated, lengthy devotion to mind-numbing activities is attractive when we feel overloaded by real life and need to escape it. If we respect transition time and use it wisely we can reduce the need to mentally check out as a coping mechanism.

The best way to get from one activity to another is to first acknowledge that a shift is needed, and then decide what is important for you to be successful in the next phase.

Transitions can include:

• A quiet, still moment to reset
• Time to get ideas or to-dos written or typed for later
• Planning for the next day
• A physical move from one location to the next
• A change in uniform
• Optimizing your environment
  • Staging or lining up your tools
  • Cleaning up
• Setting the tone with music or lighting
• A change in audience and attitude
• A signal to focus on the next thing (such as an alarm or timer)
• An internal pep talk to get yourself psyched
• Anything that clears your mind and gives you peace

Transitioning can mean calming down. It can also mean gearing up, getting focused, planning, or stopping in a good spot.  It requires mindfulness and awareness and takes time to make a habit of.

Wearing too many hats at once makes for a very heavy head. Chin up!

*Drawing with a mouse is like eating with a plastic spork or getting dressed in the dark…it can be done, but it is far from ideal.