Going home after work. Is there something you need to be doing?

I was talking to a teacher called Oliver.
Teachers have to play a particular role at work, he tells me.
‘A lot of teaching is acting, playing a part for the benefit of the children.’
And so it’s important for Oliver, when he leaves work, that he lets go of that professional persona.
‘I don’t want to be a teacher in the evening or at weekends. I want to be a human being again. It’s not that I’m not human at work – I hope I am! But there’s no question, like a lot of jobs, it’s a professional persona – so for my own sanity, I have to let go of it when I leave. It’s like taking off a coat.’
How does he do that?
‘I have a half hour walk home so I look at the sky, feel the wind, watch the traffic, breathe a different air – re-engage with the universe beyond my school, which can be a very small and intense world.’
‘So you physically and psychologically leave it behind?’
‘Yes, I suppose so. As I walk – and some days it’s easier than other days – I can feel the role dissolving and myself re-appearing. I’m no longer a teacher – I’m Oliver.’