DON'T go home and kick the dog

The rule for women in the workplace is "Never let them see you cry." Personally, I'm curious as to the rules about hiding under your desk or devouring half of the donuts in the second floor office.

I am just the worst at compartmentalizing. I have trouble remembering things, so I keep a to-do list running in my head at all times. This often means that when I'm at work, I'm running through things I need to do for school, and when I'm at school, I'm thinking about the work day, and when I'm at home I'm thinking of buying a pint of Ben & Jerry's to have for dinner. Yeah, like you haven't done that at least once...

Often times this causes me to be distracted and not particularly pleasant. In seeing a group of friends one evening, I found myself unable to make my usual jokes and dreamed of the moment my head would hit the pillow. So, how do you "let it go". How do shed the daily annoyances and stresses and be your usual happy go-lucky self when you're done for the day?

First of all, we love to think that multitasking is a more productive way to get things done, but we're wrong. It's the "I can totally have 12 tabs open on my computer" theory. Studies show that it causes people to be less efficient and more stressed than when we focus on one thing at a time. Basically, I should focus on work at work, school at school, and Pinterest at...well, anytime in between.

Secondly, writing things down has always been an excellent way of letting things go. Creating a physical and thorough to-do list means I don't have to keep it up in my over-capacity brain. It is said that venting doesn't always make you feel better. People think that talking about their bad day will help release stress, but many times it causes you to refocus on it. That being said, I have found that keeping a journal helps me get all the crazy out, and let's me think a little more clearly.

In theatre we always say "Check you baggage at the door," which means, don't let your outside life affect your work in rehearsal. So, maybe if I think of each thing in my life as a different rehearsal, I can check my desire to roll my eyes at the waitress or yell at the cab driver that they HAVE to take my credit card, because IT's the LAW.

When that fails, never underestimate the healing effects of a brief but complete nervous breakdown.

Clean it up :/
Do it right :/
Let it go :)

"Again, don't waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions. Go "Over! Under! Through!" and opinions will change organically when you're the boss. Or they won't. Who cares?

Do your thing and don't care if they like it."~Tina Fey. Bossypants

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