A bad day is an inessential ingredient of an over-stimulated brain that disallows a quiet nighttime sleep. All you need is an over-active, busy day to stay awake or toss in your sleep into the wee hours of the night unless you are a sleep-deprived parent like me who can sleep through a storm.
The recipe of unwinding also seems elusive. Positive thoughts therapy fails. Deep breaths feel useless. So, how do you unwind the tape of daily past events?
I have discovered a few evening habits help me unwind. Sharing the same with my fellow readers. Maybe, we can compare notes.
- Play/Laugh like a child Just like a good cry, a hearty laugh goes a long way in letting it all out. I have to apply the same tactic to help my toddler blow off steam when he gets frustrated on being unable to use words to express the strong feelings inside his heart. We roll on the floor until our eyes tear up. At the end of it, I do not know if it is therapy for the little guy or his mother. When he grows up, I will have to use a more mature tactic to continue to laugh and play because he will be too old to roll on the floor.
- Read a great book Only a book has the power to transplant you away from your misery into an alternate reality. Book is better than TV because a reader along with the writer joins in the imagination of the scenes. Read.
- Writing Only activity better than reading a book in my mind is reading your own! Writing your story is like reading a book while it is forming, line-by-line. Vent out on paper. It works wonders.
- Hot Shower My most creative ideas for writing come in the shower. It helps wind down as well.
- Gardening/Watering the plants There is a calmness around watching a flower bloom, nourishing it out of soil. It is a great way to end a day.
- Hugs I am blessed with three little ones. Our evenings involve joint, giant hugs. I will take my daughter and rock with her. It is enough to expel all the negative energy inside me.
- Pray/Meditate I am not big on religion. But I am thankful I was raised to pray that now I am adult, praying is second nature. When I lack prayers for myself, I pray for others. It heals the spirit.
Those are my methods of winding down. What are yours?