Closing Work Ritual - Joy Cannon

To you sensitive souls out there, I know the struggle to  "leave work at work."
A friend taught me years ago to set a mental boundary for thinking about clients and the endless to-do list. Each day when she turned off the lights, she faced her counseling office (in the non-profit you know it included a dated, donated brown couch) and she thanked the sacred space for holding precious relationships, trauma stories and courageous vulnerability. 

The truth is, you're more than your job. You will go back to work tomorrow or in a few days, and what you haven't finished can wait until you return or be passed to another person who shares your work responsibilities. I will never forget the stress of being on-call for a domestic violence shelter. If I could talk to my past self I'd remind her that even though she wanted to do the job with excellence out of genuine compassion, she's not alone in this healing work.

 
Here are the steps for personalizing your own closing ritual:
1) Identify a physical action that you must do daily. You'll pair your ritual with this closing moment so choose something that you consistently do.  Do you have to lock a filing cabinet? Turn out the lights? Get into your car? If you're virtual only, is it close the laptop?
2) Now that your end of day moment is identified, pause daily when you go to take that action. Each day as you get out your keys for example, take 10-30 seconds to do nothing else but simply sigh out this day's work. I highly recommend sighing or moaning out loud until your body "resets", shivers or shakes.
3) Finally, verbalize a gratitude list as long or short as you like. Thank your space for containing your clients and you. From the doorway, look at your chair and thank it for holding you up through tough conversations. Appreciate how the room is big enough for your important work. Tell your computer thanks for keeping track of the details that you can't possibly hold in your mind. Thank the lamps for helping you see people, really see them in the midst of their struggle. Appreciate your plants for breathing life into four white walls. That's all. Let this brief gratitude practice be a ritual that supports your transition into all the other roles you inhabit.
4) Lather, rinse, repeat. If you miss a day because you're placing a dinner order or rushing to soccer practice, thank yourself for doing what was needed at the time. And maybe adjust your ritual. Would it be more fun to just wave as you leave the building while you feel fresh air on your face? Whatever you do, do it with all the kindness you'd show a darling, little, lost puppy.