SITTING IN THE CAR BEFORE WORK
When You Need Ten More Minutes Before You Can Walk Through the Door
You have arrived at work. You have parked. The engine is off. But somehow opening the car door feels like the hardest part of the journey.
For many people, sitting in the car before work is not laziness or poor time management. It can be a transition, a moment of nervous-system regulation, a response to anxiety, sensory overload, masking or simply the last quiet space before another day of demands begins.
This Workplace Wellbeing resource explores what may be happening underneath those few minutes in the car.
The downloadable three-page guide looks at transitions, ADHD and autism, masking, workplace anxiety, difficult previous experiences, sensory demands and the difference between taking a useful pause and feeling increasingly unable to enter the workplace.
It includes practical ideas for creating a kinder arrival, reducing the pressure of the first few minutes of the working day, recognising patterns and considering reasonable workplace adjustments.
The resource also explores when ten minutes starts becoming thirty, when someone begins crying or panicking in the car, or when the car feels like the only safe place left in the working day.
Rather than asking, “Why can’t I just get out of the car?”, this resource encourages a different question:
“What am I preparing myself for?”
Space to Breathe Therapy
Support • Understand • Belong
