Switching Off

I had a recent conversation with friends about the evening 'switching off' ritual. There is a need to come down off the buzz of being a lot of people to a lot of people during the day, to just being you and relaxed and in the zone for sleeping. This seems to be of more relevance for those working from home. For many, the physical distancing from work to home in the evening helps with the mental distancing.When you work from the living room or the back bedroom, this mental distancing isn't so simple.

For mothers who have a career/job, there always seems to be more that could be done, so switching off appears to be harder to come by and more often then not, consists of falling into bed exhausted at some late hour and having a fitful and disappointingly short sleep.

I thought about my rituals- I have a few depending on the day or where in the evening I am. Leaving the kitchen in the evening after clearing up dinner and putting away the dishes helps for me to switch off from housekeeper; tidying up the days worth of toys scattered about the house helps me to switch off from mother; walking down the stairs from the offices helps me to switch off from job. Some nights I take extra time out and have a long and luxurious bath as a way of further relaxation.

But the biggest and most important one for me is the ritual of taking my makeup off and brushing my teeth at the very end of the day. The cleansing, moisturising, scrubbing, and application of lotions and potions help me to switch off from the day completely. As the marks of the day wash off, with a few deep and relaxing breaths, the tension and worry also slowly fade and slip away. It then feels easier to find the pleasures in the day. I try to think of the things that have made me smile or that I feel grateful for. It's a delicious way to fall to sleep.

After a brief personal poll, for others it is a different ritual but with the same purpose- to take you out of the state of high energy and tension you've been in all day, into a relaxed and languid frame of being. One friend listens to music every night as her switch off ritual, another reads before going to bed and yet another does some yoga. Others have a glass of wine in front of a tv show , cook dinner for friends or journal their thoughts in a diary.

Whatever it is, it certainly does help general health and wellbeing to have your mind and body clear and relaxed as much as you can in order to slumber deeply and peacefully. Sweet dreams x