Why Can't I Stop Thinking About Work?

She is very good at her job and she knows it. The problem is that her job never fully leaves. On holiday, at dinner, in the middle of the night, an unresolved client issue surfaces, an upcoming presentation runs through her mind, a team conversation replays and generates alternatives. The work is always present.

The inability to switch off from work is not the same as workaholism. It is not that she chooses to think about work. The thoughts arrive uninvited – often during the moments when the mind is least occupied by other demands and has the most capacity to process whatever has been set aside.

What the mind is doing, during these off-hours visits to work problems, is the same thing it does at the desk: processing, preparing, reviewing. The difference is that it is doing this without the structure of the work context – without the ability to act, decide, or close the task. The processing continues without reaching a resting point.