Are you tired of ending your days with no time for yourself? Are you longing for some much needed “me time”? If so, this post is for YOU. A self care night routine is a routine filled with….you guessed it….self care.
As young millennial women, we can constantly be on the go whether its with school priorities, work priorities, or even a side hustle; there just always seems to be something to do.
In this post, I am going to lay out some basic self care tactics to add to your night routine to help you unwind and relax during the last few hours of your day.
Self Care Night Routine
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End tasks for the day
I like to wrap up my tasks for the day usually around 7 or 8pm. To avoid exhaustion, it is important that your give yourself an hour or more to relax before you actually go to bed.
I am on the go constantly throughout the day, and typically have a hard time letting go of my work (typically something related to this blog). I always tell myself “one more thing” or “five for minutes”. And the next thing you know, its 10pm and I am ready to go to bed.
It is vitally important for your mental health, to be able to have at least some portion of the day away from things that you classify as work.
Tidy up your space
There is nothing worse than the feeling of waking up to a cluttered room/house. By cleaning up your space before you lay down at night, you will be able to feel more calm and relaxed.
And plus, who wants to wake up to clutter? Clutter can just completely bring down your mood and make you feel like there are more things to do than there really are, which can lead to overwhelm and unproductiveness.
To avoid this, I like to do a 10 minute tidy. I set an alarm on my phone for 10 minutes. During this 10 minutes, I try to clean up as much as I can as fast as I can.
I love this method because at first glance, a huge mess may seem like it will take forever to clean up, when in reality, it won’t take that long.
Try adding this method to your self care night routine, and you will so shocked once you see how much you can actually get done in just small amount of time
Related post: 10 Small Changes to Make to Increase Your Productivity
Watch your favorite show
With my busy schedule, it is so hard for me to watch anything anymore. To satisfy my TV cravings, I give myself one hour (almost) everyday to watch an episode of whatever I’m watching on Netflix (right now its the 2nd season of YOU) or a few Youtube videos that I have saved to my watch later playlist.
In the past, I had always felt guilty for spending an hour or two watching TV. I felt like I was being unproductive with my time…..even though I had spend 12-14 hours working all day.
If you are feeling this way, I just want to tell you that is 100% OKAY to spend time on something other than work or school. That is what this self care night routine is all about.
It can be easy to find ourselves so lost in our priorities that we forget to do something other than our priorities. It’s time to start saying yes to our guilty pleasures, even if it is only for an hour a day.
Side note: The watch later playlist on Youtube has honestly been such a life saver for me. Whenever my favorite channel’s post a video, I simply add the video to my watch later so I don’t forget about it. I also like to scroll through my home feed and save any videos that look interesting that I would like to watch later in the week or during the weekend.
Plan your day
Another “task” you can add to your self care night routine is planning out your next day. First, on a separate sheet of paper, jot down everything that you have to do for the day.
This will help you get a better visual overall of what you are needing to do. From this list, separate your hard priorities, soft priorities, and other non urgent miscellaneous tasks.
If you are a person who likes to time block, you would then place these priorities in your planner and into the time frames of your choosing. I recommend adding your most difficult or time consuming task to the start of your day if possible. In the mornings our brains are freshly rebooted and you will be more likely to knock through that task with a breeze.
Related Post: 10 Time Management Strategies to Add to Your Daily Routine
Skincare Routine
After a long and busy day, it can be tempting to just skip over your skincare routine. But don’t do it girl!! Your skin needs love everyday too.
Establishing a skincare routine will not only help prevent breakouts (because we be stressed), but overall leaves you feeling more refreshed at the end of your day.
Your skincare routine doesn’t need to be anything elaborate, you can still get the job done with a few simple and staple products. Here are a few of my favorites:
Related: How to Glow Up This Year In 12 Easy Steps
Read a Good Book
I unfortunately am unable to find the time to read in the morning, as well as throughout the day, so I will typically add it to my self care night routine.
Reading at night helps me to unwind and honestly puts me to sleep after a good 30 minutes or so. According to Bustle, reading at night can help relieve stress, improve memory, and help you to be more empathetic. Reading also helps you reduce the amount of time you are spending on your phone at night.
I am personally into self improvement, personal development, and finance books. Here are a few of my favorites:
Related: 10 Self Improvement Books That Will Seriously Change Your Life!
Things to remember during your night routine
It’s okay to take a break
Its okay to take a break. As a matter of fact: You DESERVE to take a break. As young women, it can be easy to get sucked into a workaholic spiral whether its in our actual jobs or in school.
It is absolutely essential that you take time to put yourself first, and what better way is there to do this then by taking back your evenings and starting a self care night routine.
Do what you have to do to make tomorrow easier
You want to end your day feeling good and ready to take on what your next day brings. You should start your days with a fresh plate, not cluttered with the tasks of the day before.
By doing something simple like a 10 minute tidy, or even just planning your days out, you can relieve extra burdens for your next day.
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Do you have self care night routine? If so, what are somethings that you love do a night?
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I love reading books at night. I loved the post!
It was very helpful I will start doing it from tonight. Thank you for sharing
I’m so happy it helped!
Very helpful! Will be using these soon , thank u!
Yay!! So glad you loved girl!
I really like your post. Seems doable
And more realistic than many others I’ve read. Thank you!
Thanks Johana!!
loved all the tips .. congratulations!