Every evening after work, I wished to spend it slowly and relaxed, but somehow I didn’t.
I either spent all my hours scrolling on my phone or doing a household chore.
But this time around, I’ve been stricter about spending my evening routine slowly, and I’m beginning to feel much more at ease and generally happier and calmer.
If you want your evenings to feel slower, softer, and more spacious, I think the biggest shift is to stop treating the evening as the second half of your workday.
A slow evening isn’t about doing nothing.
It is about doing fewer things, doing them without rushing, and creating little rituals that tell your mind the day is winding down.
15 Ways to Make Your Evenings Slower
Table of Contents
1. Give yourself a transition ritual
Don’t go directly from work, errands, or your afternoon nap into another task.
Create a little transition and give some space between your “day mode” and “evening mode.”
Change into comfortable clothes, wash your face, make a cup of tea, open the windows, or sit quietly for ten minutes.
The point is to let your body understand that the productive part of the day is over and now you are going into a relaxed mode.
2. Stop scheduling your evenings so tightly
Often we treat our free time as a free slot to do some work.
If you’re like me, you will get tempted to finish just that one little task when you have the free time.
But then you will get hooked, and your evening is again spent on work.
As strange as it may sound, you also have to be determined enough not to work and allow yourself some free time.
Instead of:
6:00 — walk
7:00 — dinner
7:30 — emails
8:00 — skincare
8:30 — reading
9:00 — planning
9:30 — bed
You can try:
6:00 — walk
7:00 — freshen up and dinner
8:00 onwards — nothing you have to rush to
You can read, journal, meditate, talk to someone, do skincare, listen to music, or simply sit.
3. Create a No-Work-After-Hours Rule
People say it is important to know when to start.
But it is also important to know when to stop.
I know how tempting it can be to start working every time you find a little free time, especially when there is always another task to finish or another idea that you could work on.
That’s why creating a no-work-after-hours rule can be such a simple but powerful way to make your evenings slower.
Choose a time when your workday officially ends and make a promise to yourself that you won’t return to work after that time.
For example:
No work after 6:00 PM.
No checking emails.
No answering unnecessary messages.
No opening your laptop because you suddenly remembered one tiny task.
No telling yourself, “I’ll just finish this one thing.”
After 6 PM, your workday is over, even if there are still things left unfinished.
And this is the part that can feel surprisingly difficult: allow yourself to leave things unfinished.
Tell yourself:
“I allow myself to leave some tasks unfinished.”
“I allow myself to return to them tomorrow.”
“There is no need to rush with this work.”
Your evening deserves a boundary too.
4. Make tea an evening ritual
Choose one drink that becomes associated with winding down and entering into your slow evening rituals.
It could be herbal tea, chamomile tea, warm milk, or simply your favourite caffeine-free drink.
Make it slowly.
Use your favourite mug.
Sit somewhere comfortable.
Don’t immediately open Instagram while drinking it.
Let yourself simply have the drink.
And if you live with someone else, it’s a wonderful chance to wind down, talk and connect with each other.
Having tea is also a wonderful transition ritual.
This is something we do every evening at our home with my mum and family members, and I love this time when we talk about everything under the sun that comes to our mind.
It’s a wonderful way to slow down in the evening.
Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves – slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
~ Thich Nhat Hanh
5. Take an evening walk
An evening walk is one of the easiest ways to slow down.
I love my evening walks and how I feel after them.
You don’t have to turn every walk into exercise.
Simply walk slowly, as if you have nowhere to be, and allow yourself to enjoy the walking itself.
Don’t walk only to lose weight, get fit, or listen to a podcast.
Of course, those can all be good reasons to walk too.
But your evening walk doesn’t always have to have a purpose.
Don’t walk as if it’s another item on your to-do list that you need to check off before the day is over.
Walk simply because you want to walk.
I love putting on my headphones, listening to music, and walking slowly through the evening.
There is something about walking alone with my music that I enjoy so much.
In fact, I enjoy it so much that it was one of the reasons I started wishing to take my first solo trip, just so I could experience what it would feel like to walk around a completely new place on my own.
There is something lovely about having nowhere particular to be and simply letting yourself wander.
So the next time you go for an evening walk, don’t worry about how many steps you’re getting or how quickly you’re walking.
Let yourself walk slowly.
Notice the sky, the breeze, the trees, the people around you, and the little things you would normally miss when you’re rushing somewhere.
Let the walk help you shift from doing to simply being.
6. Eat dinner slowly
Try not to eat dinner while scrolling through your phone or working.
Set the table properly, even if you’re eating alone.
Use a nice plate.
Light a candle if you enjoy candles.
Put your phone somewhere else.
And actually sit down and enjoy your food.
There is something incredibly grounding about making an ordinary dinner feel like an occasion.
7. Do one small household ritual
Slow living doesn’t mean your home has to be perfectly tidy.
Choose one tiny thing.
Fold the blanket.
Water your plants.
Put away the dishes.
Prepare your clothes for tomorrow.
Tidy your bedside table.
Do it slowly, without turning it into a massive cleaning session.
8. Put your phone away for an hour
You don’t have to become completely screen-free to have a slow evening routine.
Start with one hour.
Maybe:
8:00–9:00 PM = phone-free hour.
You’ll be surprised by how much longer an evening feels when you aren’t constantly checking your phone.
Keep your phone charging in another room.
Now that you are phone-free, use this time to do skincare, read, journal, stretch, meditate, talk to your family, or simply sit.
9. Dim the lights
Bright overhead lights make the evening feel like daytime.
Around sunset, start switching to softer lighting.
Use lamps, bedside lights, fairy lights, or warm-toned bulbs.
You don’t need your home to be brightly illuminated once the sun goes down.
Let your environment become quieter as the evening progresses.
10. Make your skincare routine slower
Another slow evening ritual is to do your skincare routine slowly.
Instead of treating skincare as something you squeeze into the last five minutes before bed, turn it into a ritual.
Wash your face slowly.
Apply your products without rushing.
Massage your moisturiser into your skin.
Put on comfortable pyjamas.
Brush your hair.
Dim the lights.
Your nighttime routine can become one of the gentlest parts of your day.
11. Read something purely for pleasure
You don’t make all your reading productive.
You don’t have to read a book that improves your career, teaches you something, or helps you become a better person.
Read a novel.
Read poetry.
Read a memoir.
Read something you’ve already read.
Let reading become a form of rest rather than self-improvement.
I love to end my night by reading a short story and poems.
12. Journal without trying to solve your life
You don’t need a complicated journaling system.
At night, write:
What felt good today?
What am I grateful for?
What can wait until tomorrow?
That last question is especially useful.
It reminds your brain that not everything needs to be solved tonight.
P.S If you want to feel more grateful and positive in life, take my free 21-day Gratitude Challenge that so many have loved.
13. Have a “nothing hour”
This might be the most important one.
Give yourself an hour where you don’t have an objective.
You don’t have to read.
You don’t have to journal.
You don’t have to exercise.
You don’t have to learn.
You don’t have to create content.
You can sit on the balcony.
Pet your dog.
Look out the window.
Listen to music.
Daydream.
Do absolutely nothing.
Boredom is allowed.
14. Go to bed before you’re exhausted
A slow evening shouldn’t end with you collapsing into bed at midnight.
If you want your evenings to feel spacious, give yourself enough time.
Stop doing things one after another and let yourself breathe between tasks.
Go to bed with ease.
This is how you avoid burnout.
This is how your passion remains alive.
This is how working on yourself and your goals becomes sustainable.
The real secret to slower evenings
You don’t necessarily need a better evening routine.
You need less urgency.
Stop trying to squeeze five productive activities between dinner and bedtime.
Stop turning rest into another thing you have to accomplish.
Instead, let your evening have some empty space.
Leave your phone and see what you feel like doing.
Because sometimes the most luxurious evening is simply:
A warm shower, clean pyjamas, dinner, a cup of tea, a good book, soft lighting, a little skincare, and nowhere else you need to be.
This is a wonderful way to spend your evening after work.
Let your evening be a wonderful time to return and relax into yourself.
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