Our evening ritual is the bookend to our morning ritual. This is the consistent routine that transitions us from the active day into rest and sleep. The nighttime winddown can take a couple of hours and rituals can flow throughout or be concentrated in a few routines.
Below is a 5-step process to consider and intentionally design your evening ritual.
Step 1 – Audit Your Current Routine
The best way to adjust or create a ritual is to know what you are currently doing. For a few days, pay attention to the time after dinner. What do you do? Are there consistent elements? How long do the activities take? What do you like? What do you dislike? What do you think is missing?
Step 2 – Consider Your Time & Energy
Next, you consider your life stage and chronotype. Not all phases of our life allow for an ideal evening ritual as our time is allotted for family care or other obligations. Make sure you work with your current stage of life and the amount of time you realistically have.
In addition to time available, consider your energy. Are you a morning person or a night owl? This will help with the types of activities that fit best into your evening. Morning types may look for ways to settle into quiet relaxation before bedtime. Night owls might have a burst of energy each evening where they want a project or something active to be part of the ritual.
Step 3 – Evening Ritual Goals
Next, turn attention to goals for your evening. Consider these questions: How do I want to feel? What is the purpose of the routine? Are there any activities that are non-negotiable, even on a busy day?
Step 4 – Dream
What could be part of your evening ritual that would create the feeling you are looking for and serve the primary purpose? Brainstorm and dream. Go beyond what you are doing and think about the ideal situation. Consider creating the environment around you. How could you engage all 5 senses in the experience? What would help you put a close on the day and wind down into bedtime? Would the weekend ritual be different from the weekday ritual? If so, what could be included in each?
Step 5 – Design the Ritual
Now, it’s time to create the experience. Define when it starts and then plan out what comes first, what’s next, and how it concludes. Consider the environment and all the ideas from the dream step.
Your Turn
Do you have an evening ritual you love?
Are there any steps discussed here that have you considering updates?
Does it make sense to replace one aspect of your routine with something else?