marissa belle ｡･:*˚:✧｡࿐

If you’re like me and you work pretty long shifts in a retail environment where you’re dealing with difficult, nasty customers all day, you need a way to relax at the end of the day.

And a quick one!

However, when you get home at 10.30pm after an exhausting day, you also kind of want to just go straight to sleep. When I get home at 10.30pm and have my extremely late dinner, a lot of me wants to plop on the bed and wait for tomorrow to come. But I do also love to have some ‘wind-down’ time. With the tiredness and wanting to ‘pamper’ myself all in one, I’ve found some ways to wind-down swiftly and treat myself to some self-care.

You can do all this in 1 night, or separate it across a few nights.

Lie In Bed And Watch Some YouTube

I’m pretty sure this is something a lot of people already do. I personally love watching YouTube at the end of the day – it passes time quite quickly and before I know it, I’m feeling sleepier than before and ready to hit the hay. I enjoy watching YouTube on my laptop instead of my phone as the screen is much bigger.

If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you’ll know I love watching tea spill videos. Another one I quite like is Forensic Files docuseries videos, Buzzfeed Unsolved, Weird History videos and random videos from the Real Stories channel. My boyfriend is a big fan of watching podcasts on YouTube before bed. There are tons of great podcasts on Spotify to discover!

Read A Book

There are many theories out there that tell you reading a book will put you right to sleep. I’ve found it works for me too! I bought a yellow-toned book light and it helps too, as reading with a white light might keep you awake for longer.

I do also want to invest in a Kindle at some point!

Play A Relaxing Game

Animal Crossing is my go-to game when it comes to relaxing. The night-time in game music is basically a lullaby to my ears. Animal Crossing is not stressful in the slightest unless you’re doing some terraforming (which I don’t do at night because it needs brain power and thinking!). Apart from Animal Crossing on the Switch, Stardew Valley is also another relaxing alternative! I’ve never played the Switch version but the Mac version is adorable.

Mobile games can also be relaxing. I personally love Abyssrium, Penguin Isle, Food Truck Pup and Adorable Home. These games do not require any thinking or planning and generally come with relaxing graphics and soundtracks.

Put Your Favourite Face Mask On

I’m a huuuuuge face mask lover. I’ve currently got about 7 different ones in possession. If I could wear a face mask every night before bed, I would, but I do also know that overusing face masks can also be bad for you.

As I live in a really hot and humid country, I love anything that’s slightly minty. I used Lush’s Mask of Magnaminty the most frequently as it is gentle and also very pepperminty. I put it in the fridge for an extra kick. Sometimes it really feels like I had ice on my skin when I put it on and I love it because of the hot weather here.

I am planning a face mask favourites post so keep a look out for that!

Avoid Caffeine And Sweets

I don’t think people realise how important this is. Past 5 or 6 in the evening, I avoid sweet drinks and even tea because I always have problems sleeping when I drink sweet things, even fruit teas. I realised, for some reason, that fruit teas really gave me bad insomnia – and I learned that the hard way!

I stick with cold water and nothing else, especially if I have work the next day. I also read somewhere a couple of years ago that apples contain a very small amount of caffeine, so the paranoid me has obviously been avoiding apples in the evening as well – even apple juice which is one of my favourite drinks of all time.

Instead of your usual sweet treats, opt for water or a warm camomile tea!

Put Lavender Essential Oil Into An Air Diffuser

I am the biggest fan of anything lavender scented, one of my favourite Lush Body Sprays is Twilight and sometimes I even spray a little bit into my air diffuser.

I typically use The Body Shop’s Lavender essential oil or the one my dad gave me that’s from Young Living, but anything lavender will do as lavender is proven to help you relax and feel sleepier. With this known fact in sight, I only use lavender scented things in the evening so I don’t nod off in the middle of the day or get overly relaxed at work.

Yes, I would run into a field of lavender and sleep in it if I could.

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How do you wind down after work? What are some tips you could share with the rest of us who suffer in a very tiring customer-oriented workplace? Leave them down in the comments below!