Avoiding the After 5 Burnout

Have you reached that point in your life where you suddenly freeze and think "Whoamygosh, I'm turning into my parents!"  Not that we don't want to be like our parents.  Maybe you had that thought when you realized you're a rockstar cook like your dad.  Rock on! (and please do share your recipes)  Or maybe it was when you freaked out about wet towels on the floor.  I get it.  Sometimes our patience goes on holiday without us, and it just makes us freaking mad!

As a species, we observe, judge, declare we will NEVER do the observed item, and then, years after our declaration, lapse into doing exactly what we rebuked.  And sometimes, parents are observed.  I'm just saying, it happens.  A total coincidence.

I'm talking about the 5pm burnout today.  Growing up, I observed (where? who knows...) that life after 5pm consisted of sitting on the couch and watching TV until bed, at least 4 days a week.  I vowed to never be that person.  After all, there was life to live out there.

I'm dancing on the edge of that line.  I need to be pulled right back to the me side, and stop flirting with the side that I observed.  When it's not the TV, it's the computer.  I validated the computer because I was "learning" or "connecting" or "applying for jobs" but when I'm honest, I am mostly wasting my time being sedentary.

I know all the excuses.  I'm totally there.  I just really don't want to be.

Ideas to fix the problem:

• Get out of the habit - I think that I set myself up to fail by watching TV during dinner.  Once it's on, you're glued to it.  Perhaps this can be remedied by purchasing a dining room table.  Or maybe only allowing one episode and then having to find something else to do.
  
• Get 8 hours of sleep every night - Sometimes energy is the problem, not habit.  I'm going to try to get 8 hours of sleep each night and see if that gives me more energy to be more active after work.  That means a 10pm bedtime for me.
  
• Get the other involved - This isn't going to work if my partner is on the couch while I'm trying to get off it.  I'll need to get him on the betterment train too.
  
• Eat clean - Another energy booster, so I'm told.  I'll try to eat well and see if proper fueling helps motivate me to move after work.
  
• Help cook - My significant other cooks for me 95% of the time.  I offer moral support (read: sitting in the kitchen while he cooks and talking to him to prevent him from becoming ridiculously bored, which would surely happen if he didn't have my voice as a backdrop) but that's not really enough.  Maybe I'll pick up some cooking skills along the way.
  
• Free up the weekend - I want to have as much fun as possible on the weekend.  I do not want to do laundry, gardening, cleaning, etc. Why save all these tasks for my precious days off?  If something only takes a few hours, it can be done in the evening to keep me off the couch.
  
• Make weeknights fun - I like lists.  Maybe you don't need one.  Maybe you just need to think about other activities you could be doing aside from watching TV on the couch.  Props to your brain power.  I'll make a list of activities we could be doing instead of vegging out.

I can't wait to share what works for me this week!