How do I put down the stress I carry home from work?

The stress of your work never really lets up, retirement is coming whether you are ready or not, and you carry a tension home that you do not know how to set down. You hold lives in your attention all day, and the body does not just switch that off when the shift ends. It follows you through the door. That carried tension is not a personal failing, it is what happens when a person stays that alert for that long. Your nervous system learned to be ready for anything, because it had to be. The problem is it never got the signal that it is safe to stand down. That signal is something you may have to give it on purpose now. So build a real edge between work and home, a small ritual that tells your body the watch is over. A walk before you get home, a shower that washes the shift off, ten minutes of nothing before you speak to anyone. And start picturing who you are beyond the console, because retirement will ask that question soon. You spent years keeping others safe. It is time to let yourself land too.