Learn how dedicating one evening night a weekend to self-care and nurturing yourself can help you be fresh for the week ahead.
If you’re like me and many other working parents, you easily prioritize other things that need to get done (dishes, laundry, homework, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and these tasks take a lot of hours out of the day and the week. I remember many evenings where I would lovingly spend an hour washing breast pump parts and bottles, and then I would go right to bed because I was too exhausted to do anything else.
Since those breastfeeding days, I have planned for a date night with myself at least one weekend night a week—a night of self-care in my own house designed by me, dedicated to me. No matter how much work I did that week and how much work still needs to be completed, I always deserve this time for me. On these nights, after the kids are in bed, instead of going right to the sink to wash more dishes or fold clean clothes on autopilot, I stick to my plan to take time to reflect on the week that has passed and to rejuvenate for the week ahead with a mini self-care retreat.
Here are some of the ways I spend my time on these date nights with myself:
Nighttime yoga routine (Yin yoga and restorative yoga are great options.)
Guided meditation or yoga nidra
Abhyanga (self-oil massage with coconut oil or sesame oil, depending on the season)
Soaking in a warm bath
Sipping on chamomile lavender tea
Reading an uplifting, inspiring book
Journaling
I vary what I do, depending on how I feel, but these are my mainstays.
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These self-care date nights look like an expanded version of what I do every night for self-care, but when I dedicate an entire evening once a week, I don’t feel rushed, and thus, I am more relaxed because it's more relaxing to not feel rushed. Choose to do one, a few or all of these things on your dedicated self-care date night.
Practice It: A Weekend Solo Self-Care Retreat
Pick a weekend night this month to plan a self-care date night with yourself. Then schedule one weekend night each week this year for self-care before anything else takes its spot. Add these nights to your calendar to assure that you have 52 nights a year that you can dedicate to self-care and nurturing yourself. Your present and future self will thank you.
For more self-care ideas on what to do on your weekend self-care date nights, check out my award-winning books 108 Yoga and Self-Care Practices for Busy Mamas and How to Stay Calm in Chaos: An Everyday Self-Care Guide.