The Importance of a Night Routine
My favorite hair and face masks along with my go to chapstick, no plastic face wash and soap holder, and of course a succulent.
A night routine is something as a middle schooler or even a high schooler that I dreamed of having. The reasoning was not to take care of my physical and mental self though; it was to be like the girly YouTubers I watched. As I have gotten to college though, I realize simply how important a night routine is. Moving drastically from one place to another was already a big change, but how was I supposed to make my dorm room feel like home? It was not until I was very settled in and not exhausted anymore that I realized what made me feel prepared for the next day: the infamous night routine.
This not only can be different for everyone, but needs to be different for everyone. When I was younger, I watched a mass amount of YouTube videos on what other people did for their night routine and it looked so simple yet exhausting. My night routine in college became shower, brush my teeth, and watch episode upon episode of one of my favorite shows with my best friend.
Now I have realized that it needs to be not what I want to do, but what I need to do to ease my mind and prepare for the next day. For me personally these are the steps I take:
Shower
Wash face for sixty seconds
Floss, brush teeth, and use mouth wash
Put on face lotion
Look in the mirror for usually around sixty seconds
That is all that I feel is necessary to have a good sleep. For some people a night routine can be one hour. For me, if I do not feel as though I need to wash my hair that night, it can take twenty minutes. After the physical clean up, I love to make a to do list for the next day. When I wake up, the hours that follow seem so overwhelming. Where do I start? What am I able to do with the next twelve to sixteen hours? That is so much time and there are so many opportunities so as I lay in my bed, staring at the ceiling, that always seems to be the best time to make a list of what I find necessary to do to feel accomplished of the next day.
Everyone needs a goal and everyone needs purpose. One of these things is given to us when we come into this world. Everyone is here for a reason, but what are we going to do with the ability to change the way we live as a people. When we go to sleep, we are choosing to reenergize ourselves and improve our mental health for the next day. We choose how mentally able we want ourselves to be for what comes next. I have realized that with only a few steps and practices, I have created a mindset for myself that is clear and peaceful. A night or morning routine should be a meditative practice.
I personally am a moon child. I absolutely love being outside, basking in the sun, and taking in it’s gorgeous reenergizing rays but my mind is completely active and productive at night. I want to sleep in the warmth and glow of the sun and do all of my proactive work at night. This has been hard for me to try to flip so honestly I do not completely fight it. I love the calmness of the moon and the silence of everyone around me at rest while my mind works. This is the reasoning that a night routine may not be as important for everyone as a morning routine is. My morning routine is a lot more dreaded, but helps me prepare for the day that I set up for myself the night before. The base word in both of these phrases is “routine”. It is what every child is raised on and is what the human body craves to live on. Giving yourself that can only improve health physically and mentally. Finding a night routine, or morning routine for those of you that are more morning people and are able to soundly fall asleep at night, is simply very important.
My “night routine” is written down to be five steps but everyday it is different. There are different things I want to do each night and different ways that I approach these steps. The most important thing is for this to be calming. Make sure your night routine is calming for the mind as it is about to go on an imaginative adventure while your body rests. Everyone is different and will change the world in differing ways. What are you doing to put your best foot forward the next day? What are you doing to energize the tiny little crystals of hope and love that grow in your heart and mind? Take the time each night to tell yourself how powerful your impact on the world really is.
You are beautiful and strong. Embrace that and help that grow each night. Who knows what you could be preparing for in the approaching day? You could meet the love of your life. You could meet your new best friend. You could have the best coffee of your entire life. You could make the world a better place by planting one little succulent or one ready-to-flourish tree. Why not be ready for whatever the world wants to impact you with?
My best advice to give is to sit down and first thing of all the hygienic things that you want to accomplish every night, but after that, think of all the mental goals you want to accomplish and go for it. If it does not work, hey, tomorrow is a new day.
“Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” -Buddha
