I look at the clock, it's 10:30 p.m. already. I open my notes app. “Are all the boxes on my to-do list checked?” “AH, FINALLY” *closes all the 20 opened chrome tabs, checks the mailbox for one last time, and shuts down the laptop* 

I proceed towards my bedroom, grab my evergreen bath and body works candle, but when I proceed to light it up, my lighter always seems to want to burn my right-hand thumb. But, my whole room smelling like “white tea & sage” after a couple of minutes makes the slight burn on my thumb tolerable. 

For me, there’s nothing more relaxing than taking off my full face of makeup, splashing warm water across my face as I pretend to be a face wash commercial model, applying a pink colored face mask with an art brush that I convince myself is a soft-bristled one although I can feel the hard, clumped up bristles on my skin, and massaging my face with quite a few serums, leaving both myself and my skin happy and glowy. 

After preventing my skin from breakouts and myself from regret, I hop on my warm and cozy bed, thinking to myself how I’ve waited for this particular moment all day. Then comes the second most awaited moment throughout my day, flipping through the pages of my rustic journal as all my feelings that I’ve felt throughout the day pour onto it through my bulb pen. Writing down every single thought popping on my mind in that instant makes me feel less anxious not only throughout the night but the morning after as well. 

There are nights where I feel as though I can’t reflect on the emotions that I’ve felt throughout the day as it can be overwhelming. It’s nothing that deep; I realize that I need some time to process my feelings so, I start flipping the pages of a book rather than flipping the pages of a notebook. After around 30 minutes, I start feeling like my brain can’t comprehend any more information from the self-help book that I’m reading. I close the book, convince myself to unwrap myself from my fuzzy blanket, get up from the bed, and drag myself across the room to switch off the lights. 

Lighting a candle, washing your face, writing, and reading all just seem so normal, don’t they? But, how I look at these daily activities is that “if I need to do these things every day, why don’t I pretend and act as though these things are something out of the ordinary?” My regimen to shut off the day is what I look forward to each day. They say it’s “romanticizing your life” and you know what? That may be it, it makes me look forward to each day, and I’d recommend you to do the same. It’s like pouring a little bit of glitter on a plain piece of paper each of my days.