The After-Work Recovery Protocol: How to Stop Spending Your Entire Evening Recovering From Your Job,

If you can do your job…but you can’t do your life after work, you are not lazy, or “bad at balance.” You are depleted.   For professionals living with chronic illness, the workday often ends with a nervous system collapse: brain fog, pain spikes, fatigue, overstimulation, and the feeling that your evening becomes a recovery room. In this episode of Thrive Beyond the Flare, Sue shares a simple, repeatable After-Work Recovery Protocol you can run in 15–30 minutes, without pushing through. You’ll learn: Why evenings crash so hard (and why it isn’t a character flaw) The 3-phase protocol: Decompression → Stabilization → Life Return A flare-day version for when you have almost nothing Real-life examples for meeting-heavy jobs, helping professions, and remote work How to partner with your body so you can still have a life after 5 p.m. If work takes everything you have, this episode is your starting point.