mercurial scribe

I’ve written about the importance of regular routines including sleep times and morning routines, but really what has helped me the most is getting my evening routine in order. To be honest, it unfolds over hours but knowing what is coming next has eased my currently hectic life into something resembling order.

The greatness of the evening routine is that it winds me down but also permits the opportunity to prepare for the following day. Since my schedule is a bit odd, I have two evening routines. The first routine starts about 8:30 p.m., just after dinner which is when Husband, Miri and I enjoy some family time. At 9, I:

• Perform Miri’s bedtime routine which is bath and bottle.
• Straighten up the apartment.
• Clean up from dinner, loading the dishwasher and running it if it’s full.
• Set up the coffee maker for the next morning.

After this first evening routine, I then head to the computer to log a few hours of uninterrupted writing time. I have to admit I like working while everyone else is off winding down and passing out for the night. It’s liberating to work in the quiet. After a few hours though, I do begin to get tired and my second evening routine begins somewhere around 12:30 a.m.

• I take my medications along with my multi-vitamin.
• I review my To Do list on Remember the Milk to ensure that the list is accurate, realistic and has my 3 vital tasks for the next day as the priority tasks.
• I brush my teeth, brush my hair and wash my face before putting on my pajamas.
• Finally, I say my prayers before snuggling up to the Husband for the night.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the truly big stuff - family time, writing, tasks related to my life goals - should be kept out of these routines. I believe it is essential to keep the important stuff entirely away from my morning and evening routines because those times are for marking the transition between rest and wakefulness. Transitions are easier if done by rote, automatically so that a person can ease out of one state and into another without shocking the system. The important stuff are the events that I want to make sure I entirely participate in, not a task performed on auto-pilot. It’s like an Oreo - all the good stuff is in the middle, but the conundrum is the middle wouldn’t be very good without the crunchy cookie outside to hold it in place. So it is with life: without the proper use of little routines, life just couldn’t hold all the fun in the middle.