A Successful Morning Starts the Night Before: Set Yourself Up For a Good Night Sleep
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Being a busy stay at home mom of three, where my “job” revolves around my children and our home…
…there are many days where I end the day with the thought “what the heck is the point?”
Why should I clean up the house before I go to bed? Why should I go to bed early? Heck, why should I even shower?
I mean, I’m just going to wake up tomorrow and start the hamster wheel all over again…
Over the last year I have made it a real conscious effort to stop the hamster wheel for even a moment each night. To take a couple hours to decompress and ease into the night so that I feel more refreshed when I wake up…maybe even ready to do it all again.
I’ve learned that creating this space for calm makes me a much happier person…which in turn makes me a better wife, a better friend, and a way better mom.
It’s become a part of my night that I truly look forward to and my body even craves. It’s a time of day that I can mostly count on to have a few moments to myself. Where I have space to breathe, and my mind has space to pause and think. This is when I am able to be the most organized and even productive.
While it would be so easy for me to “burn the candle at both ends” and cram as much as I want to get done until the early hours of the morning, I’ve also needed to learn the balance of rest and restoration, and how that affects the next day for me (especially now that I have a new baby who is nursing through the night!).
This process has taken a lot of trial and error and a whole lot of me crying to my husband about how exhausted I am :-p
Here is how my night goes, after those little munchkins are tucked in, on MOST nights.
Tea
Everything about this nightly ritual brings me joy. The process of making the tea, holding the hot cup in my hands, and slowly savoring the entire mug as I sit and connect with my husband.
Here are my favorites that I’m rotating between right now:
Turn Off Phone an Hour Before Bed
I will admit that this is the hardest thing for me to stick to. I get on a role from time to time where I am absolutely staying true to this, and then I fall off the wagon and find myself scrolling through Pinterest pinning air fryer recipes far too late while my husband snoozes beside me.
This works the best when I just leave my phone in the kitchen and don’t even bring it into the bedroom.
It’s good for so many reasons…
Your eyes. Your mind. Your ability to fall asleep. Your sex life. Shall I go on?
Using your phone not only stimulates your brain, but it also emits blue light that messes with the sleep inducing hormone melatonin.
It’s just not good for you, and we really will be okay without it.
Make to-do list
I have consistently been making a to-do list now for the better part of a year. Each night, before heading up to bed, I will jot down a few things that I know I need to get done tomorrow so that my mind isn’t trying to hold onto that thought all night.
In the morning, while drinking my coffee, I will finalize the list…but it starts in the evening when my mind is actually functioning (I’m not so whip smart first thing in the morning).
Read also: The One Thing You Can Do To Increase Your Daily Productivity
Prep
Pack lunches, set out clothes, set your alarm, set the coffee machine…
Do what you can the night before. The less decisions you need to make in the morning before you drink your cup of coffee the better…for everyone.
10 Minute Clean Up
This is one of my favorites. I feel the absolute best when I turn off the light to head up to bed and the kitchen, specifically, is pristine.
I don’t always want to do this…but if I just set a timer for 10 minutes, and give myself permission to quit when the timer goes off I will always start cleaning and usually will finish even if it takes me longer than 10 minutes.
Three weeks into having our third child, my husband and I are just getting back to this routine and the house feels so much more manageable just doing those 10 minutes each night before bed.
There really is nothing like coming downstairs in the morning to get my morning coffee to a beautiful, peaceful kitchen, am I right?
Read also: Love Your Home on a {Tight} Budget
Pamper Yourself
I read this amazing book called Ageless Beauty the French Way this past summer that really woke me up to the importance of taking great care of my skin.
Would you judge me terribly if I was honest with you and told you that I hardly did more than run a wet washcloth over my face each night for the last 36 years of my life?
I have been fortunate…thanks mom for the skin. But after reading this book I notched my bedtime skincare routine up a couple notches.
- Remove Makeup
- Do my skincare routine
- Lotion
- …and when I’m feeling really in need of some pampering, I love to put lotion on my feet and slip on some cozy socks for the night.
Here is my current nightly skincare routine.
Adjust the Temperature
Did you know that the ideal sleeping temperature is between 60-67 degrees? Adjust the temperature down for a better night sleep.
Read
I am a book junkie. I typically have a stack of 3-4 books on my bedside table that I rotate through depending on my mood. Right now I’m reading this parenting book and it’s rocking my world.
There are so many wonderful benefits to reading…period… but one of the biggest benefits I find with reading before bed is that it relaxes me and cues my mind and body that it’s time to go to sleep.
I usually don’t make it more than 5 minutes.
Maybe you’re a non-fiction reader, like myself, or maybe you need to read a silly comic strip book (like my hubby) to shut off your brain.
Whatever it is, try adding this to your nightly routine to wind down and just watch how fast your fall asleep.
Lights Out by 10pm
Since I started consistently writing each night (starting at 8:30pm), I have a little bit of a harder time making sure I’m in bed, with the lights out by 10.
However, my whole morning is thrown off if I get to bed much later. I don’t want to wake up early, so I end up sleeping in until my kids wake up. This means I have no time to myself to read and wake up “slow”.
Getting to bed at a reasonable hour really is such an important step to starting tomorrow off on the right foot.
Maybe my specific nightly routine isn’t your jam…and that’s okay! I built the majority of my routine after going through Crystal Paine’s Make Over Your Evening course last year.
If you’re interested in digging in and adding a nightly routine to your life (trust me, it really makes life so much better), I would highly suggest her course
The program is 14 days and literally only 5 minute videos each day (with another 10 minutes of reading and reflection…)
15 minutes a night is easy (and if it isn’t, sister…you need this program more than I do hehe. I’m teasing…but seriously…)
Check out what her program is all about here (and it’s less than $10).
What is something that you NEED to be part of your nightly routine? Write it in the comments below!
