How to Establish An Evening Routine

We all are looking for an evening routine that lasts. I recently posted a post on how to create a morning routine. The key to a successful morning routine actually begins with the evening. If you do not do well with your evening, you probably aren't going to have a successful morning. Establishing an evening routine helps us to start the morning off right. I want to introduce you to a few lessons that I have learned in establishing a successful evening routine.

Just like it is important to be realistic in your morning routine, it's also important to think realistically about your evening. One of the most important things is to assess your evening. What is important to you? What are your outcomes? What does a typical evening entail for you? All these things will help you to know what evening routine best fits you.  

One of the best practices of establishing an evening routine came from Emily P. Freeman. Emily P. Freeman is the author of The Next Right Thing and host of The Next Right Thing Podcast. In her podcast, she helps people who have difficulty with making decisions. She has an episode that helps you with establishing an evening routine in 10 minutes. I have used this several times. I want to introduce this to you to adopt in establishing your own evening routine. It involves alliteration which makes it helpful to remember.  

Establishing Your Evening Routine

Root: This is where you check with your 5 senses. Take a check-in with your body. How does it feel? Are there any spots that feel particularly sore or tired? What does your body need to get to the phase of relaxing? Do this with all your senses. (body, sight, smell, taste, hearing, seeing)

Reset: What needs resetting tonight to begin morning with ease? 

Basically, what do you need to do right now to start the morning out right? Think about your lunch for the next day. Think about your morning coffee and breakfast. Think about the things that would make the day easier. Think of the tasks.  

• People 
• Place 
• Review plans at a glance 
• Priorities

For me, I like to do a few things the night before. I like to wash all my dishes and completely empty the sink. I like to get my coffee ready so I just have to press a button or set a timer for it to start automatically. In addition, it is easy for me to get overwhelmed by what to wear and end up late for work. So, I look up the weather and try. to pick out clothes the night before.

Reflect: Another great word for this would be review. Take time to just sit and review your day. You can do this any way you like. Emily suggests a few questions that you can reflect on.

• What's one thing that wore me out today? 
• When did I feel most like myself?
• Where did I see God today?  

Respond: This is a step I tend to forget about. However, I think it is important. I think it is important to take a moment or two to spend responding to our review and thanking God for the day.

• Gratitude 
• Worship 
• Borrowed prayer or lines of psalm  

Relax: what exactly would relaxing mean or look like for you? How can you go after those things?  

You do this every day because a routine is not going to happen instantly. You begin to see a pattern. You see a sequence of habits and values. You notice what is important to you and what isn't. What serves you and what doesn't.

For instance, I learned how essential taste and smell are to me. I enjoy relaxing with a cup of tea and ending my evening with something sweet like chocolate or ice cream. I like to light a candle that smell of the current season we are in. Relaxing for me has so much to do with preparing the room around me. It is also counter cultural. For a long time, TV has been relaxing. But as of lately, it is distracting and sapping life from me. Reading or journaling is more life-giving to me. It brings me to a different kind of life. A lot of my life entails listening and sitting at a desk. So, winding down and relaxing looks differently for me in this season.

You can listen to the entire episode here. You can find her podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts.  

Your routine reflects your priorities. No two routines are the same. We each have our own structure. Decide what yours might be. 

Here are a few thoughts to help you kickstart your evening routine:

Assess your day. What is the most difficult thing about your morning? What stresses you out? For example, the biggest stressor in the morning for me is to get out of the house at the right time for work. This is why going to bed early is crucial for me. It's important to have things set up right the night before.  

Decide on your big 3. What are the three most important things you want to do every single evening? Is it doing dishes? Is it prepping what you are going to wear the next day? Is it prepping your coffee? Is it washing your face? What three things will help you relax and get prepped for the evening?  

My three things are: 

• Cleaning the kitchen  
• Washing my face 
• Prepping the coffee  

When I do these three things, I feel like I can relax and begin my evening well.   

What about you? Your evening routine does not need to be elaborate or rigid. Learn to be flexible with your evenings. They will always need to be tweaked depending on the life season you are in or even depending on the time of the year. Creating the perfect evening routine for yourself may take a few weeks or a couple of months to instill. it may even take up to a year. I feel I have had lots of life interruptions so I'm still figuring out a rhythm even with a year in my belt of trying. Give it time. Be patient. Give yourself so much grace. You need it. No habit or rhythm is ever easily attained. It takes time.