To ask what you do with your evenings

[TooLittleTooLate2]

Just that really, what do you do with your evenings? I feel like I am setting a terrible example as always exhausted by the end of the day after working and looking after family. I am much more productive in the day but just don't feel motivated in the evening so end up faffing and wasting time. I live rurally, nearest town 20 minutes away, so nothing locally to do. How do others spend their evenings once the kids are in bed?!

Have a bath, light a candle, drink a glass of wine, talk about the news, tidy up a bit. I'm a goldsmith and keep a small bench in the house, so often I'm there, tinkering with ideas.

Put a screen time limit on your phone. You select which apps and how long you’re allowed them a day. It’s really enlightening.

in the summer, long dog walk, dinner then too much telly or some gardening . In the winter short dog walk. Diner and far far too much telly. I’ll sometimes make some soup for the freezer to take to work.

last night I caught up with two old friends on the phone instead and it was so much nicer than sitting on my backside watching yet more telly.

I definitely relate to this from my old job, changing it completely has massively transformed my life.
I’m not suggesting this is a straightforward move for you or anyone else, I just knew something had to change for me as I was literally working and then doing nothing. And I was always home by about 3:30 so had aeons of time. But no energy or desire to do anything other than lie on the sofa and hope no one bothered me.
Also my dc are much older now, 2 adults and one teen. They need me in different ways of course but the relentless of small ones is long gone.

I go to a quiz every week in a Wednesday.
Sometimes, I'm tired and grumpy and don't want to go, but when I get there I have fun!

Work. 9-11pm is an extra chunk of the work day for me.

Firstly, doing nothing is NOT a waste of time if you don’t want to do anything so don’t think that resting when you’re tired wastes time. See it as self care.
For us, once we’ve had tea, we relax and watch a couple of shows together then I go up to bed at about 8pm for a quiet read while my other half then stays up and might do a bit of gaming or read or watch a show.
At the weekend, we’re more likely to go out somewhere.
Having said that, we’re older, exhausted and both still work full time so I never feel
like we’ve wasted time relaxing. We’ve earned it!

Watch TV - but always make sure it’s something we actually want to watch and not just flicking until something vaguely entertaining pops up. If there’s nothing we want to watch, I’ll read, or have a bath, maybe do a puzzle or play Scrabble/Uno together. Some evenings we might go out for dinner, but that’s rare and usually saved for the weekends. Chat on the phone to a friend, if I lived in the same area as my best friends then I’d probably have a night at the pub or a meal out with them once every few weeks, but generally in the evenings it’s reading or tv for the most part. In the summer my husband and I might sit in the garden with a glass of wine and chat with some music on. Nothing very out there really, just the usual!