Making February Special: Week 3

 RITUAL

Verily's challenge for Week 3 wasn't just to have a routine...but a ritual. This meant adding something that would level up a normal routine and make it more special and memorable. This week's challenge stumped me a little bit. 

I already had one de-stressing ritual that I indulge in a few times a month. This involves a hot bath, 2 candles on the corners of the tub by my feet, and my choice of low-light decompress with no media, reading a book, or Pinterest-dreaming. Bubble bath, face masks, and/or exfoliating make their appearances from time to time too, depending on what I'm in the mood for. Usually this is my bad-day pick-me-up, but sometimes its a make-a-good-day-even-better sort of treat and it gets a 10/10 from me in either case. 

Another established ritual is our Wednesday Date Nights. These are flexible in terms of content, but we try to keep the night a little different than the rest and that we are more intentionally focused on each-other. This means staying away from the TV, keeping work to an absolute minimum,  and trying not to answer calls or hanging out with other people. It also may mean that we light a candle at the table for dinner, spend some time reading a book together, grab a beer at our favorite brewery or ask bigger questions and indulge in bigger conversations than normal for a weeknight. 

But bath time and date nights are rituals that existed before this challenge came to my inbox and it felt like I was cheating a little bit to just use them instead of working towards coming up with something new. But, I just couldn't think of any other regular routine where I could afford to take my sweet time and make it more ritual-like. As it is, I always get to work late, barely get dinner made at a reasonable hour most days of the week, and already feel pretty bougie for managing to brush & floss my teeth, wash my face before crashing into bed every night. 

I realized however, that we had let our earliest dating ritual fall to the wayside pretty much once we got married & decided it was time to revive it. Nick & I used to spend almost every Sunday morning drinking coffee together on the porch, enjoying the birds, and investing in some deeper conversation. So, when Sunday rolled around, we did just that. The only difference is that we enjoyed it all from the warmth of the great indoors. ;) We both resolved to prioritize this a little better on Sunday mornings because it is oh-so enjoyable. :) 

Finally, last night, I tuned into the fact that most of my life revolves around "us" and doing things together...which I like very much, of course. But I think it would be beneficial to work on developing another solo-ritual so that I have more to fall back on than having a bath a few times a month. So I'm taking that thought with me into the next week & see if anything comes to mind.