kitchenconfidential

I'm not in the food service industry but if you're body is not doing well I would say that smoking and drinking will not help you feel better. Booze is literally a poison.

I would increas your water consumption throughout the day. If you're body/muscles feel literally sore at the end of the day, I'd suggest drinking a protein shake, either mid day or at the end of you shift.

Getting adequate sleep is also really important. I would try to develop a good sleep schedule. Maybe take melatonin supplements at the same time everyday for one full week in order to acclimate your body to sleep at the same time everyday.

This isn't advice for a just someone in your position. This is what I would say to anyone who is in a physically demanding job that is causing them bodily fatigue.

Weed/beer are part, not “all” there is.

Any kind of hard but fun workout can reset and stretch out your sore feet, tight back, and burning forearms.

I usually bike to work. Treating a road bike like it’s a surfboard on an endless wave that is my city’s streets & paths is a riot to me. It can ether be an aggression outlet for when I’ve had to grit my teeth through a belligerently drunk lead waitress or owner or it can just be a peaceful flow session after successfully tackling obstacles of laziness/forgetfulness from the previous shift or lead cook.

We got a decent rock climbing gym in town and I’ve been hitting that once a week. Fixes my back right up.

We’re talking, laughing, and even singing a bit in the back. The radio is cranked the whole time. (it’s a bbq, not fine dining). Honestly, I mainly just need a filling portion of some semi-healthy food and small chunk of time soaking in the sky with a decent degree of solitude.

The time demands in this industry are easily the hardest part to adapt to, or cope with. My approach has been to "keep my side of the street clean", as the saying goes. Make sure you have backups prepared, towels, fresh sanitizer, and set things up the way you like it. Keep calm at all times, and communicate clearly with your Expo and/or Board Caller. People are going to yell at you, but you need to remember they aren't actually mad at you. There's simply no time to be nice.

It took me a good 10 years before I really understood all this. What I've found is that other cooks notice that I don't freak out during a rush, and begin to do the same. Over time most of the lines I've worked on are fairly calm and orderly, but it takes several strong leaders to make it happen.

That said, I do still have bad days. When I do I focus on my other hobbies. I have a firm rule of keeping my Professional and Personal life separate, it helps me not bring baggage from one to the other.

Also, weed and video games.

Substance use is a major cause of unhealthy and abusive kitchen dynamics. Illicit substances render the user increasingly less capable ongoingly. Plus, the notorious attraction to that absence of drug checks brings those challenging social dynamics together into a hot, compact, and stressful interactive environment that represses honest emotional expressiveness amidst customers. Stress compounds and needs transformation. Recognize that bad formula, and instead nourish healthy therapeutics into your physiology from the opposite end of the sprectrum. If you smoke or drink, ease off as much as possible for as long as possible. I'm so glad I replaced those habits with healthy substances. So instead, look to nootropics for physical performance and clarity, and supercharge your days with high quality nutritional foods into your diet and with good hydration with enough quality water kept onhand (RO or artesian).

Constant supply of your favorite snack fruits can really help make a stressful kitchen into a managable experience. A large shaker bottle full of snackable frozen grapes or berries while on the job can feel nice. Or your favorite nuts with rasins and dark chocolate chips. That might just be my opinion. Higher end grocery stores have some great bulk bin goodies.

My effective decompression approach: Earbuds, my best music, solo racquetball or solo tennis practice against a handball wall (energetic overhead serves only), and sweat.

Its a simple, free (which is cheaper than golf and batting cages), and it's a great solitary interactive medium that transforms an emotional need to physically exert stressful energy into positive exercise which won't incur embodiment of physical stress (like weightlifting), and in a way that's uplifting in that it effectively dissolves stress and creates a sense of situational command over an inanimate medium (the ball) while increasing physiological capacity. That's a nice inversion of subjectional and exhausting kitchen labor.

Equipment is best hunted at major thrift stores such as Goodwill. Tennis balls can always be collected as used from local tennis court trash cans; the firmer the ball, the better, but for now you just need something that will safely bounce off a racquet.

Afterwards, before stepping into a steamy shower or hot bath for a while with some decompressing tunes, make some strong chammomile tea and take 5-HTP with it. That's tryptophan, but it will mostly only just settle nerves and maybe relax your mind a little to help you recenter and mastermind those stresses, same with the chammomile. Jarrow Formulas is a good supplement quality. The single 50mg capsules are effective.

If you're ending shifts late at night, walks in peaceful areas are also a nice and easy option. Walk it off. If you're up for a jog, even better. Bike rides or a stationary bike can be great options. Exercise helps balance the mind. Jam that stress out into sweat and positivity.

A gym membership can offer some great exercise equipment too (bikes, ellipticals, treadmills, row machines) which can be nice after work late at night, especially if there's a pool and sauna or even just showers. Focus on expending energy through exercise, not stressful weight loads. Weights will conort any existing physical embodiment of work stress and any physical stress from poor sleep quality. Loosening up with exercise, and also chiropractics and stretches will increase your capacity to handle stress more gracefully on the job because you'll move and breathe better which will help you think, interact, and perform better.

I hope this proves helpful.

Dude...you're a cook not a roofer. The hell?