Hello and welcome, or welcome back to my blog! Today I am going to be sharing my evening routine in nursing school. I recently shared my morning routine in nursing school, which you can find here. I am personally a morning person, so I try to be productive relating to my personal health, as well as schoolwork then.
For some background, if you’re new here, I am in an ADN (2-year) nursing program at a community college. I just completed my first year and am set to graduate in June 2022. After that, I plan on attending the RN to BSN program at a university while working. Due to COVID, I didn’t get to go to clinical until this last spring quarter. Up until then, it was virtual simulations for clinical. Every quarter so far I’ve posted a recap of how it went, which you can check out below:
- First Quarter of Nursing School Recap
- First Quarter of Nursing School Recap
- Second Quarter Nursing School Recap
- Third Quarter Nursing School Recap
Other pre-nursing and nursing school posts that are up on my blog can also be found below:
- How to Get an A in Anatomy and Physiology
- Tips for Pre-Nursing Students
- How to Get into Nursing School
- How I Study in Nursing School
Ok, let’s get into my evening routine in nursing school!
My Evening Routine in Nursing School
In the last couple of quarters, I’ve tried to set up boundaries surrounding my evenings. In the past, I’ve done hours of school work until midnight or later. That wasn’t great for my sleep, or even productivity, so I try to keep my evenings to myself now. Of course, there are some evenings where I might need to meet with someone from school on Zoom or have study groups, but for the most part, I try to relax.
My evening routine is pretty consistent for most of the week. I don’t have classes or clinical past 3:00 pm, so I don’t usually have any consistent responsibilities that I need to do in the evenings.
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Danny gets off most days at 5:00 pm and usually, we are ready to eat dinner around this time. We switch off with cooking so I will either make dinner around now, or he will make dinner and I will finish up any school work I need to do. While I am cooking, I will listen to Registered Nursing RN on Youtube if I have a test coming up that I really need to study for. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to make dinner and then we will eat it and have it cleaned up by 6:00 pm!
Some days when I am really busy, I will end up pushing back my entire evening routine an hour. This means that I cut out some of my time to unwind (which I don’t mind since it’s a couple hours’ worth already) and will start making dinner at 6 instead. Usually, this is around when I have exams or big assignments due.
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Danny and I usually take our pup for a walk after dinner. In the summer we would take her for her evening walk around 8:00 or even 9:00 pm, however, it starts to get dark so early! She definitely needs her evening walk so that she can unwind, though. We walk her for around 30 – 45 minutes and when we come back home she will be more ready to relax, or just play with her toys. The only exception to this is on Thursdays and Fridays. On these days I have clinical and she goes to doggy daycare for most of the day. By the time she gets home, she is so tired! She will usually just pass out for the night.
7:00 pm – 7:15 pm
Around this time I will usually try and get things ready for the next day. I might write a to-do list of things that I need to get done the next day. I will also pack my bag for clinical or get anything ready for the next day.
7:15 pm – 7:30 pm
By this time I am usually not going anywhere for the night. I will change into comfier clothes, do my skincare, anything like that.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
This time is my ‘free time’ where I do whatever I feel like to unwind. Sometimes Danny and I will watch a movie or a show, I might read a book, I might play the switch. I will also work on my blog around this time if I want to write a new post or have one coming up that I need to finish up. Before school started, I batched an entire quarter’s worth of blog posts because I didn’t do so well staying consistent during the first year of nursing school.
If I have a test coming up that I am feeling stressed about, I might use an hour of this time to study my notecards, work on learning objectives, join a study group, or work on a big assignment.
Around 9:30 or 10:00 I am so mentally exhausted from the day and all the studying, so I end up going to bed. I also wake up pretty early at 5:00 so I need all the sleep that I can get. Overall, my evening routine really isn’t that eventful or revolutionary.
A Note on Routines
If you are having a hard time managing your time in nursing school, I highly recommend setting up routines in your day. Everything may seem impossible to accomplish, but time management is everything! I also highly recommend setting up your routine so that you have time for yourself. You can become burnt out so fast if you are studying 24/7. Give yourself time to wind down and take care of yourself later and your future (lower stress) self will thank you!
Thank you for reading my evening routine in nursing school! If you want to be notified of future posts, you can like my Facebook page here or follow my Instagram here. I will be posting more nursing school-related posts soon, so be on the lookout for that if you enjoyed this post!
