life is more than just working - how to overcome

  Sometimes, I feel like work consumes my life. I work forty hours a week in a restaurant and it's exhausting, some weeks. There have been days that I'll come home at my wits-end with stress and have break downs. I've worked in customer service for seven or eight years of my life, but never in a restaurant until this past summer, and wow.. the stress difference is completely different. Working in a restaurant can be draining, especially when it's what entirely consumes your work week.
  It's difficult to shut-off the part of your brain that's in work mode, too, I've personally found. That's with any job, though. All jobs have some form of stress; whether it's dealing with difficult co-workers, rude customers, or a heavy work load that seems to never stop, deadlines that need to be met, and expectations to be had.
  I've been trying so hard to work on helping myself in that aspect; when I walk out of the doors at work, my brain should be in personal mode-- it should be in "I'm going home to my family, because that's ultimately what matters the most" mode. It's hard, though. I sometimes need to just vent about how my day went at work, and after that, it's time to stop. Work should have no place in my life outside of its own realm. Work is work and it should not have to consume my life.
  In an effort to help your brain turn-off from work mode into personal mode, it's important to implement hobbies for yourself. When I was growing up, I used to have my own Ukulele Youtube Channel where I'd conduct tutorials on how to play different songs. I used to love soccer, running, singing, writing, and honestly.. whatever struck my interest, I would simply dedicate a hefty amount of my personal time to getting better at what ever it was that I wanted to learn.
  Now that I'm older, I miss that part of myself. I miss that I was able seemingly have so much more time than I do, now, (which was definitely not the case, because I was overloaded with classwork, had soccer practices, church activities during the week/weekend, and was practicing for singing competitions). There is no reason why I shouldn't have time, now, for the things that interest me outside of work.
  I've found something else that helps, (and not everyone will be into this idea), but I absolutely love having my own hand-held monthly schedule. There is something so simple but amazingly-helpful about owning a notebook that has all of the dates of the month laid out for you, that you can take a pencil to and decide a schedule for yourself. Knowing your schedule and planning time for yourself outside of work is so much easier, for me, now that I own one of these.
  I'm trying so hard not to buy into the whole "I just don't have as much time, anymore" idea. Yes, I do. It's all a matter of priority and rewiring my brain and re-learning that I am a human with a beautifully intricate mind that has interests and desires outside of what can sometimes be the all-consuming work place. I deserve a time and a space for what fascinates me and things that better me in all aspects, (mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually). You do, too.

  kati