I had one of those horrible days at work this week. A client had an angry and emotional breakdown in the halls of the courthouse. Her breakdown had nothing to do with the results we were getting in court--in fact, we had just gotten a highly favorable recommendation from the judge--it was just a function of who she is.

I had no time to gauge my own reactions to the sight of a person literally falling apart in front of me. I had a short time period in which to try to calm her down and get to my court appearance scheduled for that afternoon.

As I left the office that night, my staff’s advice to me was all the same; decompress, turn off your computer and cell phone, and pour yourself a large glass of wine. I agreed with them in that I knew I needed to recover from the stress of the day. Instead of looking for wine when I got home, however, I looked for ingredients.  I then proceeded to make a large pot of hearty soup.

As I worked to chop, measure, combine ingredients, and taste I slowly felt stress of the day begin to disappear. By the time the soup was ready, the tension that had built up in me was noticeably diminished.  I have come to learn that, for me, the act of cooking truly relaxes me.

How do you destress after a difficult day?