Our social media is full of successful and productive individuals. They try to inspire you to give your 100% in every task in your day. No matter if it’s a big work project, a hike, or a cupcake competition, you should be in the highest spirit with a never-ending energy supply. But the truth is that behind the scenes, each one of us needs to recharge our batteries once in a while.
Not everyone has hours to kill daily for a snoozy getting-back-on-track time, so a simple yet powerful self-care evening routine might be what you are looking for. Taking care of your mind consistently every day before sleep is a serious game-changer.
Your mind holds immense power and potential. Establishing small patterns, like making time for meditation, mindfulness, or grabbing a pack of wholesale chocolate wafers and home-made baking goodies, has a massive impact on your mood and well-being.
This article presents you with a self-care routine checklist you should go for whenever you feel down and in serious need of a bit of pampering time.
Low Lighting
Creating a relaxing atmosphere is vital. You can use scented soy candles or LED string lights to add low-lighting. A standard bathroom or bedroom lights tend to be strong and harsh, so they might not be best when you want to feel like the outside world, and mundane worries are kept at bay.
If you want to relax in bed, put the warm lights around it or on the wall. You can light candles in the bathroom, but remember to stay awake and keep a close eye on the fire. Low lighting will help to slow down your running thoughts and relax properly.
Keep a Journal
Many people tend to live their lives on autopilot until they crash into beds. That’s why you should consider writing down your thoughts every day before bed as a form of a self-care routine. It will help you see new perspectives and sort everything out.
The journal will only be for your eyes, so don’t worry if your confessions seem selfish or silly. All emotions, together with envy and anger, are valid and important. Instead of letting problems occupy your mind before you go to sleep, write them down. It will give you a sense of relief and help to keep your mental health intact.
Mindfulness Meditation
Research shows that when you meditate, your stress levels drop, focus improves, and the ability to multitask rises. Mindfulness meditation is all about staying focused on the present moment. With visualization, deep breathing, and anchoring yourself here and now, meditation can give you a huge productivity boost.
You may choose to practice it by yourself or with different apps. Make sure to play some charismatic background audio inspirations. There is plenty of scientific evidence that music is useful for self-care, so put on the speaker tunes that help you reset your mind or play a spiritual podcast to shift your perspectives back into place.
SPA Session
There is nothing more rejuvenating than connecting a self-care night with a SPA session. Just like with your regular skincare routine, you can make it fancy with sheet masks and body massages or stay on the budget and whip up some DIY scrubs and treatments.
At-home SPA will also be a perfect implementation for your morning routine. Treat your body with a relaxing patchouli essential oil enriched bath or a hot shower. A 10 minutes shower before starting your active and eventful day will wake you up, help you stress out, and prepare for everything to come.
On the days when you need something extra, try dry-brushing to stimulate blood flow and give yourself an energy boost.
Take Care of All Your Senses
In your night self-care routine, you should consider all five of your senses. The aromatic bath will take care of your smell and touch while the music pampers your hearing sense. “What about the sight and taste then?” You will ask.
Sight
For the first one, a creative session may be the perfect answer. Take out the old colored pencils or water paint set, a piece of paper, and draw whatever comes to your mind: a pleasant memory, the face of your loved one, or beautiful scenery that got engraved in your mind.
The painting will help you relieve anxiety and take your mind off whatever stresses you out. When you start, make sure to use lots of vibrant colors, like blue, red, and yellow, to stimulate your nerves and mind to increase energy levels.
Taste
To spoil your taste sense, you can prepare a snack for the evening. The best will be something quick, easy, and light (eating lots of greasy food before you go to bed can make it hard to fall asleep).
Try out 3-ingredients chocolate chip cookies with oat flour and peanut butter or no-sugar granola cluster cookies. If you don’t have a sweet tooth, go for tortilla chips and aromatic white bean dips or guacamole toasts. All you have to do is go on YouTube and follow a tutorial!
To make this moment more wholesome, stay away from social media while eating. Make sure to pay attention to every taste and flavor and the joy your body experiences when you feed it a delicious meal.
Evening Self Care Routine
The perfect evening self-care routine is the one tailored to your life pace, responsibilities, and amount of free time. Do you want to devote your whole day-off for a self-care session? Go for it! But it is alright to spare just 20 minutes every day before you go to bed to recharge your batteries. Those are small things that matter and shape our lives the most.
In fact, some me-time is such a current and impactful phenomenon that it even got rebranded to JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) philosophy. It describes the joy of taking a break from social media and other activities to enjoy personal time. And there is no better time to practice it than before falling asleep when your brain and body prepare for the next day. Let it be the time to be a little kinder to yourself.
