Hello!
We talk about morning routines a lot, as I did here some weeks ago. But we often overlook evening routines, which are also very important.
What do we do in the evenings? Let’s say you come from work and what do you do? Personally, I come home, play with my cat, eat dinner or drink tea while watching TV or spending time on social media and then sleep. What is lacking in this pattern? Self-care or quality me-time.
I think we need to develop a good self-care and reflection routine before we go to sleep. I often scroll on social media before I go to sleep, which is not in line with that. Ideally, I would read some books to wind down (which I sometimes do), meditate, reflect on my day as to what I did good and what I can do better tomorrow. This would prepare me for a more peaceful sleep. But I am usually still activated mentally before sleep, so my sleep is sometimes as restless. If that happens, I am tired the day after and I have a bad day (which affects my sleep the next day. See the vicious circle).
That being said, I believe we still could (or even should) watch TV or do mindless scrolling in the evening. I love doing these. But the idea is that we should not take them to bed. Just spending the last hour or half hour of the day away from stimulators. Keeping these in mind, the following could be a good evening routine (PS: Note to self):
6 pm-7 pm: come home, prepare dinner, play with children or pets
7 pm-8 pm: eat dinner, watch TV
8 pm-9 pm: drink tea, social media
9 pm-10 pm: reading, meditation, reflection
10 pm: sleep
I will strive to do this myself, but you can develop your own evening routine and try follow that!
Let’s talk about evening routines: Do you have one? If yes, what does it look like? If no, what are your current and ideal evening routines? Let’s discuss!