The Beauty of an Evening Routine
Winding down your day in a purposeful and relaxing way
The morning and evening routines can serve as bookends to our day. Used regularly, they energize or relax us, signal the time of day and allow for planning and reflection.
The morning routine was always second nature for me. It made sense to fuel myself before starting the day. It was a way to energize in order to accomplish what needed to get done that day. It made sense to take care of myself before I started to take care of outside needs.
The evening routine, however, was a different story. My thoughts on it were to just close my eyes for sleep. If sleep was slow in coming, to count 10 deep breaths. Usually I was out like a light by breath 7. Either that or turn on an episode of wrestling and see if I could make it to the end (I usually didn’t).
For a long time, I didn’t see the purpose. It has only been this year that I’ve realized the beautiful opportunities that I missed by not engaging this routine.
Using the Evening Routine As a Bookend
The evening routine is the perfect opportunity to go through the day, to express gratitude and to prepare mentally for what is on the agenda for tomorrow.
It’s in giving ourselves the opportunity to stop and reflect that we begin to notice the little things that affected our day, for better or for worse. It’s then that we can examine and come up with strategies for what we would like to change.
However, this time of reflection can be positive. It reminds us of what was good, the sweetness of the moments in our day and to be more grateful.
It’s an opportunity to help ourselves relax for better sleep. Usually by the end of the day, our minds are racing. They’re still working on overdrive and anticipating things yet to come. This has never been condusive for a good night’s sleep. An evening routine helps us to quiet the mind and fade gently, instead of jerking from one state to another.
5 Activities for an Evening Routine
Gratitude lists: the end of the day is the perfect time to reflect on the day. What was great about it? What moments stole our hearts or made us feel good? If we were to capture our day in one sentence, what would we want to remind ourselves of?
This is actually how I practiced the evening routine at first. I chose one highlight or one sentence per day to capture the best of the day. I challenged myself every night to come up with at least one good thing, even if everything about that day hurt.
Watching comedy: Every day has a lot of seriousness attached to it. Work, appointments, and to do lists capture our attention and fight to keep the first spot in our minds. At the end of the day, we can feel exhausted, stressed or worn out. Comedy allows us to shift gears and get a few laughs in order to begin to unwind.
Read- for entertainment: I’ve become a huge fan of non-fiction since I began writing. However, I still hold fiction as the perfect escape.
It’s free, it takes you to different places and different situations and allows you to ease up on the seriousness of daily life.
Reading fiction for even ten minutes can help get your mind off of things that happened that day and to a more relaxed state.
Have a meaningful conversation: Another favorite is spending time speaking with someone you love. Whether this is a friend, significant other or parent.
Having meaningful conversations that connect us deeper and give us something brighter to look forward to is important.
These relationships are fundamental to our happiness. These conversations can increase our happiness, decrease our stress and relax us before being ready to go to sleep.
Practice meditation: This is also key for relaxing and signaling the body that it’s time to go to sleep. There are meditations designed to help fall asleep. Using the deep breathing techniques helps to relax our minds and bodies and welcome deeper sleep.
Start Small and Build
The key to any new routine is to start small and build. Practicing one of the five exercises for even five to ten minutes can be helpful. They can each increase peace and allow for easier transition to sleep.
The above list is not an extensive list. The five that I mentioned can serve as inspiration.
The important thing is finding 1–2 activities that make you feel less stress, more peace and relaxed. Start with a short increment of one and increase a little each time you practice it.
Conclusion
The evening routine can be a beautiful transition at the end of the night. It can serve to relax, reflect and change our mental energy allowing for better sleep. It does not need to be a long routine but it does need to serve the fuction of making sleep easier to obtain.
