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The drive home carries whatever happened during the day straight into your front door, unless you do something deliberate with it first. A few minutes of grounding before you pull out of the parking lot, or at a red light, can create a small buffer between work and home, so that switching off after work does not have to wait until bedtime.
This is a practical, everyday application of the same sensory grounding principles used more generally for anxiety and overwhelm. Grounding, orienting attention to what you can currently see, feel, and hear, is a recognised technique in trauma-informed clinical guidelines for interrupting an overwhelmed or ruminating state, and it works just as well aimed at the actual road in front of you as it does in a clinical setting.
Keep it simple while you are driving. Naming three or four things you notice, out loud or in your head, is enough. This is not the moment for a longer, eyes-closed practice. If you get home before you manage to put the day down, the body scan for the end of the working day finishes the job.
Keep it simple while you’re driving. Naming three or four things you notice is enough, this is not the moment for a longer, eyes-closed practice.
Written by Storme Brand, HPCSA Registered Counsellor, Reg. PRC0023531, practising from Jeffreys Bay since 2012. Last reviewed 11 July 2026. This handout is general information and not a substitute for counselling.
If you notice work is bleeding into every part of your evening no matter what you try, that is a pattern worth addressing properly. You can read more about anxiety counselling, or get in touch, there’s no obligation to book.
No, keep it to simple noticing with your eyes open and your attention on the road, not a longer eyes-closed practice. Naming three or four things you notice takes only a moment and doesn’t take your focus off driving.
That’s fine. Do it in the driveway or a parked car for a minute before you go inside, it works just as well there as it does at a red light.
The radio can help too, but deliberate noticing, actually naming what you see, hear, and feel, is what creates the buffer between work and home. Passive background noise doesn’t do the same thing.
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References
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). (2014). Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 57. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207188/
