A Simple Evening Routine (Two Years Later)
You can learn a lot by looking back. Two years ago, as part of my Small Ways series, I wrote about my morning and evening routines and how these mindful bookends of my days contribute so generously to the flow of my weeks. When I reread them recently, I thought how neatly a reprint of those words would dovetail with my latest posts, adding another layer of information, and possibly inspiration for anyone who is also looking to include mindful habits and routines. Because it’s helpful, isn’t it, to see the nuts-and-bolts of another person’s way of simplicity sometimes, to set us off and running.
Curiously, two years later, these evening and morning routines are still in place, albeit with some minor adjustments - I now use my yoga mat a bit later in the morning, so I’ve no need to set it out the night before, my AirPods don’t need charging every night like my former earbuds did, and I now include my charged computer, journal, pencil, phone, and reading glasses in the evening line-up. Oh, and I only polish my kitchen sinks twice a week. Wink. Everything else? Still remains. (This is a guide, mind you, not perfection, so there are days when only some of the things are done before I’m off to bed). And yes, my phone still dings a reminder at 7:00.
///
End of day. A gradual darkening, a drawing closed. A drowsy surrender to the stillness of night. I move more slowly in evening, with more yawning and heavier feet. More deliberately, clumsily, being one of those creatures who prefers to tuck in as night falls. Morning was long ago, the day has pulled out of me all that it can. Simply put, I’m spent.
The thought of doing one more thing, completing one more thing, taking care of one more thing seems too heavy to consider, certainly too much to accomplish. Leave the heap for tomorrow, I reason, as my pillow pulls ever stronger.
But what if I could, in a few moments of evening, capture the day’s waning threads of energy, and weave a conclusion for today that will carry over to tomorrow? Like a chain linking the end of this day to the beginning of the next? Like banking the last live coals of now, for then? An evening routine that goes beyond turning off the lights and locking the door.
When I considered it, there certainly were lumps in my morning that needed smoothing, and the idea of working harder at them then didn’t seem as efficient as working smarter about them the night before. So, I took note of my mornings, took note of my evenings, careful always to work with my grain instead of against it, and chose a handful of tasks that could be switched. Tasks easy enough for my sleepy evening self to accomplish, and significant enough for my morning self to appreciate. For an extra boost in setting this new habit, I put a reminder in my phone. A simple ding at 7:00pm remembers when I cannot (droopy evening creature that I am).
Here are my newly-minted evening tasks - do you have an evening routine that helps your mornings run smoother? I’d love to hear!
Put clean dinner dishes away & polish kitchen sinks
Set out a tea cup holding a strainer, loose tea, and honey, ready for the morning’s hot water pour
Lay fitness clothes out, for pulling on in the darkness, first thing
Set my yoga mat out, for opening to quiet stretches and poses
Charge my ear buds, for keeping the morning’s sound inside my own head
Simple. Reachable. Doable. Small ways. They pack enough punch to change your world, or your day. Or maybe, simply and gloriously, they’ll change your moment. Small Ways is a series about small objects, small gestures, small touches. Small ways for living well.
