Tag: routines

Bedtime Routine: Relax after a long day

After a long hard day, it is important to start to wind down and get ready for bedtime. To get a good night sleep, you need to be relaxed.

After a long, hard day, I have found it necessary to have a bedtime routine. This routine helps slow your mind down and prepare you for a restful sleep.

A night of restful sleep can allow you to be ready to be productive for the next day. There are many benefits to a good night’s sleep. This routine has proven excellent for me, but it may not work for you.

Take some time for yourself to figure out a good routine to help you relax after a long day. It took me many tries to figure it out. Be patient.

Bedtime Routine: Shower

I start after dinner. To begin my routine, I take a nice warm shower. This helps wash all the dirt and grime off of me. I can feel the day washing off and begins my relaxation.

The warm water also helps relax my muscles and can help release some of the tension I gathered during my day. Another reason I find showering at night helpful, I find brushing my hair soothing.

Bedtime Routine: TV

After that, I watch an episode or two of the current show I am watching. The show allows me to escape from the happenings of my world for a bit.

If I am really into the show, I do watch more episodes. When I begin to get tired, I start writing in my journal. When I journal, I have a few different sections that I write about.

I always start my entry by writing one thing I am grateful for. This keeps me finding a good thing even after a bad day.
I then do the classic, write about my day. I write down anything memorable and I have two prompts that help my self-discovery.

These prompts are to help me figure out what I want and who I am. I write down a memory from the day that I want to remember.

Reading

Once I am done with my journaling, I turn off my show and grab a book. I always make sure I read, even if it is a few pages or half the book.

Once I am done reading, I turn off my light, do a crossword puzzle on my phone, and go to sleep. I find a bedtime routine is crucial. It helps the body know that it is time to go to bed.

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Morning Routine: How to make it count

How you start your day in the morning set the mood for your entire day. It needs to be started off right. The morning is a time for fresh starts.

Mornings can set the whole mood of the day. It helps me determine if my day will be good or bad, productive, or unproductive. A morning routine is how you start your day.

I have experienced that in this time of uncertainty, my morning routine is how my day will go. I try to stick with it every morning, even on the weekends.

On the weekends, I adjust my wake-up time so that I can sleep in, but I always set my alarm. I have a time where I don’t let myself sleep past. This consistent time can guarantee that my day won’t be wasted.

No matter what time it is, I spend a few minutes lying in bed. I check the news and my email. There are a ton of articles saying you shouldn’t check your phone first thing, but I choose to.

What you want to do when you first wake up is totally up to you. Maybe jumping out of bed and going for a run is your cup of tea.

When I get out of bed, I go to the living room and socialize for a bit. There I play a strategy game. This game allows my mind to wake up.

Morning: Breakfast

I then decide what to make for breakfast. My go-to breakfast is scrambled eggs with cheese and toast with honey. I have found that it is the best breakfast to hold me over.

I change it up from time to time. Variety is important. I will also have oatmeal some days and cereal with milk others. Breakfast can fuel you for the day, so I can move from my morning properly.

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Routines: Anxiety and Breaking them

Routines allow a busy life to feel more manageable. Sometimes, the unexpected happens when you have to learn how to cope with routines being messed with.

Routines are a considerable part of my life. I have my morning routine and my after work routine. When something happens to break them, it causes anxiety.


When I have quirks like this, it is difficult to differentiate if this is due to my environment or my brain injury. Either way, it causes me anxiety.

Coping


The ability to cope with broken routines are crucial. Life can be unpredictable, and this means that routines are going to be broken.


Routines allow me to get done what I need to get done. I am relatively busy in life. I am trying to balance a full-time job and getting my masters degree.


My routine doesn’t have an exact timeline, but I know that when I get home, I shower and then eat dinner. After that, I do school work, and if I have, I will read a chapter of my pleasure book.


On the days where I go to the gym, it is the same routine just pushed back a bit. I try hard not to freak out when something happens, and I can’t do as much school work as I wanted, or I go to bed a little later than planned.


I try hard to remind myself that it is one night. It won’t kill me or make me fail. I focus on relaxing and figuring out what I need to do for sure that night and what can slide for a day.

Routines that break


The ability to relax when a routine is broken is a critical part because if you just let anxiety get the best of you, life will be very miserable.


I am not perfect. I am still working on not getting all worked up when something unexpected takes priority. Taking steps toward being okay with broken routines are essential to living an overall happy life.


I have found that one thing that works for me is telling the people around me that if I can have notice as soon as possible, I am then able to plan. This allows me to readjust what I want to get done.


Routines are great, but life is full of unexpected events. Allowing them to come and go with ease is the key to a less stressful life.

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