A 1-Hour Self-Care Routine in the Late Afternoon Can Do Wonders for Your Evenings
Sometimes, all we have to do is spend time with ourselves.
We focus a lot on designing our morning for the day. It makes sense because good things follow a positive start. That said, mornings are not the only premium time slot of the day.
There is one more golden slot, in my opinion, and that is the late afternoon. It covers a long stretch, starting from 4 in the afternoon till 6 in the evening. There is a lot we can do with it.
Most importantly, a beautiful late afternoon leads to be a quality evening.
What can we do in our late afternoons for ourselves?
The obvious answer is self-care, though that is not very helpful. Self-care comes in many forms. I will share my go-to’s below and explain why they work for me daily.
These are ways that allow me to relax, recharge, and prepare for the second half of the waking day.
José Raúl Capablanca, the world chess champion from 1921–1927 has this to say about late afternoons:
“During the course of many years I have observed that a great number of doctors, lawyers, and important businessmen make a habit of visiting a chess club during the late afternoon or evening to relax and find relief from the preoccupations of their work.”
I share his sentiment.
I engage in exercise.
Many people around me choose to get their exercise done in the morning, so excuses do not derail them later in the day. I get that.
However, morning workouts do not work for me. My performance suffers as my legs feel like dead logs, and my mind is in a fog. I crashed straight into a lamppost once.
Needless to say, I became unenthusiastic rather quickly.
I perform way better in the late afternoon. There are personal reasons for it. First, I feel better sweating out frustration accumulated throughout the day. Second, my tempo runs are faster.
Shawn Youngstedt, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina has this to say about late afternoon workouts:
“A lot of data suggests that running performance, specifically over shorter durations, is superior in the late afternoon or early evening… Youngstedt found that swimmers performing all-out, 200-meter trials turned in considerably slower times in morning sessions compared with afternoon and evening sessions.”
My performance log agrees with his findings.
This is what I do:
- I experiment with myself a lot, especially in terms of choice of exercise.
- I must enjoy it and it must suit my lifestyle. Cardio exercises are my go-to’s.
- Exercise is good for us. We need to find the best timeslot our bodies crave athletic movements the most.
This is why it helps:
- It releases tension accumulation throughout the day.
- I feel much better after pushing my body to do its best.
- It allows me to focus on what I can do instead of what happened to me.
I take a cup of coffee.
I endorse having a cup of coffee between 4–6 in the afternoon. Stay away from caffeine shots after that.
Taking a cup of coffee while scrolling through the news feed on my phone punctuates the day into 2 halves. Taking a pitstop in between allows us to focus and work better for the second half.
My day lasts until 1 in the morning. I may be busy with financial market trading, writing, technology projects going live, or attending to family needs.
1 in the morning is a long way to go from 4 in the afternoon. Booster shots are necessary!
An online article titled The Best Time Of The Day To Consume Caffeine highlighted the following:
“Let’s finally get to the part that really matters: the best time to drink coffee and consume caffeine… In the morning, 9 to 11:30 AM… In the afternoon, between 1 and 5 PM…These periods between natural cortisol boosts are the times where that caffeine jolt will be most productive. Instead of crashing between peaks, you’ll maintain alertness.”
Music to my ears.
This is what I do:
- I take a cup of coffee black in the late afternoon.
- I use less coffee powder & sugar, with more water.
- It gives me the necessary caffeine shot without risking my evening sleep.
This is why it helps:
- I feel good from the caffeine boost. Remember, we are only halfway through the day!
- Mental alertness comes back to me, and it lasts until bedtime.
I scribble a lot.
I wrote in The 3 Things I Work on Every Morning for a Productive Day that I engage in my thoughts during my morning walks.
Many of these thought bubbles are scribbled into my journals, and they turned into stories, just like this one.
Scribbling in the late afternoon serves different purposes. By then, a lot of work and discussions would have been behind us. There will be agreements, disagreements, tasks, and delegations.
I scribble to direct my focus on what happened. I would map out the disagreements to my initiatives and figure out why they said what they said. Tasks are scribbled into post-it notes before they conveniently disappear into the black hole of my mind.
As the wise who walked the face of the earth before us would always say: -
“Out of sight, out of mind.”
— John Heywood
It would be silly to ignore their advice.
This is what I do:
- I write down tasks that have to be attended to.
- I scribble down points of disagreement and seek to understand better.
This is why it helps:
- Deep thinking occurs when words appear.
- It ends the work-day knowing all things are taken care of.
- Visibility breeds actions.
Takeaways
These are the 3 activities I engage in for the late afternoon. I do not always engage in all of them, as it depends on the time I have on hand.
Sometimes, just 2 out of 3 would lead to a brilliant evening.
The activities themselves are not the point. What matters is they punctuate the day and give us time to relax, recharge, and regroup.
You will have activities that work for you. These are my go-to’s in the later afternoon:
- Exercise.
- A cup of coffee.
- Scribbling.
Each of the above allows me to prepare for a better evening.
Have you found out what works for you?
About the Author:
As a content contributor, I write my observations from daily life and my business exposure. Because our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.