8 Healthy Habits For Any Evening

You’re probably reading this on your phone.

No judging here. I’m the worst at staring into my phone screen late into the evening. I think I’m developing retinal image burn and scrollyosis. Basically, I’m writing this for myself.

Scrolling through Pinterest, I found this interesting article from Productive and Free called 12 Evening Habits Worth Developing. You can read the original article here.

It inspired me to put together my own list. Some of the habits listed are in the post above, and some are not.

• Reflect

Grab a pen and paper and recall as much as you can from the day. I don’t recommend a mobile device to do this because there’s too many potential distractions to keep you from concentrating. This is a good exercise for writers. You’d be surprised how much story telling can come out of one seemingly boring day at the office.

• Read

Crush a few chapters of that novel you got for Christmas, or read your Bible. Speaking of which, reading a whole book of the Bible in one setting is great. The Gospel of John has 21 chapters and Romans has 16. Either will take you 30-45 minutes to read and it’d be time well spent.

• Unplug

Go ahead. You can do it. There’s a good chance that some of us have never powered our phones off… ever. Your kids might think it’s creepy though. “What’s wrong with dad? He’s just sitting on the couch looking at us.”

• Play

I had an unopened pack of 40 year old Uno cards and YOLO’d them open one night after the family helped me bundle 10,000 invite cards for our Easter service at church. It was the best game night we’ve ever had. The cards smelled like brand new. They were even sealed in plastic inside the sealed box they came in. These are the cards below fresh out of the package.

Dust off that old game of Clue or Operation and show them who’s boss!

• Prepare

Plan your day tomorrow, or that project you’ve been putting off since last Spring. You’d be amazed at how much an hour of thinking about what’s coming up can do for your productivity.

• Exercise

I’m not a huge fan of working out at night but it might be something you’d enjoy. Don’t have a gym membership? Do 4 rounds each of 25 jumping jacks, 10 burpees, 10-20 lunges, and 25 mountain climbers. You’ll be asleep before Jimmy Fallon comes on.

• Connect

Call your parents, grandparents, siblings, or a friend. If you don’t want to call, try writing a handwritten letter or thank you note to someone. If you don’t have anyone to thank, scroll through your contacts and find that one person you’ve always wanted to catch up with that’s nowhere on social media. Don’t want to do that? Call your best friends home number from childhood and see who answers.

• Pray

Last, but certainly not least, prayer should be higher on the list, I admit. If you can’t think of anything to pray about just do a little reading of Scripture to get you started. Ask God to bring things to your mind that he want you to think about. If nothing else, go to Luke 4 and use the Lord’s prayer as a guide.

I hope this list helps you become more productive, thoughtful, friendly, nostalgic, and devoted. Let me know what you think. I love to hear your thoughts on the comment section below!

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