How do I stop bringing the suffering I see at work home with me?

The hard things you witness at work are not staying at work anymore. They follow you through the door, into your evenings, into your sleep. You did not expect that, and it is unsettling. But it is a common cost for people who do work that puts them near other people's pain. You cannot unsee what you see. What you can build is a threshold, a way of marking that one part of the day has ended and another has begun. The suffering is real, but it does not have to ride home in the passenger seat every night. Carrying it constantly does not help the people you serve; it only wears you down. Create one small ritual for the boundary between work and home. It can be a short walk, changing your clothes, a few minutes of music in the car, anything that tells your mind the shift is over. Do it consistently. Over time it becomes a door you can actually close, even on the days that were heavy.