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If you’re struggling with night shift, you’re not alone. Here’s a list of the best ways to spend your free time when your husband works nights. Who knows? It might just become your favorite shift. 😉
As a new police wife, I dreaded night shifts.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m an introvert who loves her alone time, and having the bed to myself is kind of luxurious, but night shifts got old quickly. I’d pretty much spend the time watching Netflix and grumbling when there was nothing to watch.
Now, I honestly miss it. I know it’s not easy, especially when it came to doing the nighttime childcare stuff by myself, but I came to love it.
The key is to recognize that that time alone is the perfect opportunity for you to focus on taking care of and improving yourself – and then taking that time to intentionally do something for yourself.
I know as a police wife you spend a lot of time doing things to try to help your husband, but you might be surprised at the positive difference it’ll make in your marriage if you invest some time in yourself, too. 🙂
How To Make The Most Of Your Alone Time When Your Husband Works Nights
Treat yo’ self.
Whatever you plan to do, get yourself something special. Whether that means a soda or a fancy coffee from Starbucks or a batch of brownies (no judgment), or whatever. Just get something you don’t normally get to enjoy.
It’ll help you look forward to your husband’s time away and make it less of a pain and more of a special occasion.
Catch up on Netflix/Hulu/insert streaming service here.
My husband hates This Is Us. He thinks it’s so dumb. I, on the other hand, can’t get enough of it.
The same goes for Parenthood, 13 Reasons Why, and all kinds of other shows he just can’t stand to watch. When he’s away, I get to watch them with no judgment and no complaining. It still happens occasionally, just a lot less.
If there’s a show you love to watch that your husband can’t stand, night shifts are the perfect opportunity to watch it guilt-freely, whether it’s the awesomeness that is This Is Us, or a total guilty pleasure show like The Bachelor.
Like I said, this is a judgment-free zone. You do you 😉
Learn to bullet journal.
Can I tell you how much I love the idea of bullet journaling? It totally appeals to my type-A, tracker, goal-setting, stationery and fancy-pen-obsessed self.
I already have my own journal system and planner set up, but bullet journals don’t have to be full-life journals. They can also be used for a specific purpose – like a reading-specific bullet journal (check out #BuJoforbooklovers on Instagram) or one to track fitness/nutrition goals, or whatever you want.
There’s a list of awesome bullet journal ideas for police wives you should definitely check out, whether you already have a bullet journal or want to start!
Set goals for yourself.
I’m obsessed with list making and goal setting. Every night before I fall asleep I write out my to-do list for the next day. I have goals for different seasons, for each year, and I even have a Day Zero project going like I mentioned.
I love setting goals, because it gives me purpose. When I feel like I’m dragging, I love reminding myself that I’m still one day closer to whatever goal I’m shooting for (depending on my decisions that day, of course!)
Plus, those lists keep me focused. It’s easy to let myself float through the day and at night, I realize I haven’t gotten anything done. With a solid to-do list, I’m actually productive.
Night shifts are a great time to set some goals for yourself, whether it’s just one small goal you want to achieve in the next few weeks, or a big list of goals like Day Zero. You could even spend your time making a vision board if you’re a more visual goal setter!
Make some freezer meals.
This isn’t exactly a “self-improvement project” per se, but it’s a great way to free up time later in the week. I just discovered MyFreezEasy and it’s freaking life-changing – 10 freezer meals done in about an hour (if you do it in an organized way like they suggest… or about 2-3 if you’re a hot mess like myself. Still a time saver ;))
Especially if you have kids, this is a great idea, because you don’t have to spend so much time cooking when it’s dinner time. You also don’t have to worry about what you’re going to make, since the food is already prepped – you just have to thaw it and cook it.
Also – as someone without a dishwasher, I can tell you it saves a lot of dish-washing time.
Total win.
If you want to try MyFreezEasy, check it out here.
Have a date night with yourself.
One of my faaavorite date nights with my husband is when we pick a movie, buy some candy, and I get to put all my work away for the evening and really get into whatever we’re watching. I love it so much. I remember the first time we did it after A was born. We watched Jurassic Park and I still have warm fuzzies about that movie because of it.
I know, I’m weird.
Regardless, it’s totally re-creatable alone. I get kind of a kick out of picking a movie, making popcorn, eating candy, putting my phone away, and just getting to focus on a movie I want to watch.
And again, it’s a great opportunity to watch movies my husband groans about 🙂
Get in shape.
Whether you go to a gym, run outside, or do at-home workout videos, this is a great productive way to spend time on your husband’s night shift.
While I love exercising first thing in the morning, when my husband is at work and the kiddo is asleep, exercising in the evening is pretty great. It’s not often I get to work out without someone underfoot!
I personally love Beachbody workouts, and for what it’s worth, I’m not even a coach. I can just tell you by following the programs, I’m in the best shape of my life (take that as you will ;))
Read books you’ve been wanting to read.
Part of my nighttime routine is to read a chapter of a book before I fall asleep. I love it, but I sometimes yearn for the days that I could read all night and sleep all day.
I know, I used to be quite the party animal.
Even though I can’t exactly make that happen, when my husband’s away, it’s a great time to focus on reading once our son goes to bed. I can spend a solid 2-3 hours reading, and it is glorious.
Need some ideas? Check out this list of must-read books for police wives!
Side hustle.
If your family could use a little extra money (and let’s be real, what family couldn’t?) night shifts are a great time to get your side hustle on, whatever it is.
Whether it’s blogging like me, or doing Uber, or running an Etsy shop, or whatever. The time your husband’s away is a great time to focus on it and get some solid work done!
Get creative/artsy.
My favorite relaxing activity is to do something creative, like drawing, painting, or knitting, and night shifts present a great opportunity to get lost in what I’m doing. I love turning on music and working on new pages in my art journal, especially.
If you’re not super artistic, have you tried some of the new coloring books out there for adults? This is kind of “trendy” but I love it. I spend so much time in a frenzy during the day trying to get things done, so forcing myself to sit and focus on coloring tiny details of my coloring book is meditative.
The Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford
I love the artwork in this particular one. Being near the ocean is one of my favorite things… so of course, I live in a landlocked state. Go figure. But coloring in the sea animals reminds me of home a little, which is nice for the days that homesickness sets in.
Whether you’re into painting or drawing, or if you want to take the time to learn something new, night shifts are a great opportunity to do so.
If you do it right, lonely night shifts can actually become your favorite shift 🙂
What’s your favorite way to spend night shifts?
Great ideas. My husband doesn’t work at night but there are some nights he has meetings or goes out with friends for a guys poker night and then I’m often left wondering what to do. My go-to hobby is scrapbooking but always looking for fresh ideas 🙂
Thank you! You know, I’ve never really tried scrap booking. The closest I’ve gotten is putting photos in albums but I’m not sure that really counts 😉
I used to cross stitch but haven’t in years. I love to read though! Getting lost in someone else’s world is so relaxing. 🙂
I’m so sorry I didn’t see this! Darn technology. (or it could have been my mistake ;))
I totally agree with the getting lost in someone else’s world! I’m currently reading Mindhunter and love it!
My husband cross stitches and he’s way good at it – I’m impatient. Haha 😉
Lots of arts and crafts! My night shift LEO and i don’t have kids so I’m always looking for things to do! Reading is another big one for as well. I’m definitely going to look into these work at home options! I’ve been toying with the idea of a 2nd job and that would be perfect ???????????????? ????
Heck yeah! I actually plan to start posting income reports from all my work at home jobs, purely because a year ago, I had NO idea that I could earn money from home. It still blows my mind! Technology is so awesome sometimes.
Hi my husband works nights it’s hard because my daughters biological father has her half time , I suffer from PTSD I was recently in a bad car wreck sitting at a red light a driver who was texting in his lifted truck did not notice the red light or Me sitting at it and was going 3 times the speed limit hit me going 100mph from behind this has been a very difficult time for us . My husband works from 4pm-5am , it is very hard for me to sleep so I am usually on his schedule when my daughter is at her father’s it’s super hard to go from that schedule back to days when my daughter comes home she has had to be a very big girl through all of this with her mom suffering from a compressed spinal cord that is leaking fluid into a sack and a whole bunch of other medical problems not to mention my car being in the shop so I rely on my husband to go back and forth to doctors but most of the time feel so bad because he works 7 days a week my health has become thrown to the back burner I am working on getting medical rides through insurance …… this is the first time my daughter has had to struggle usually I work a really good job and my income was our main financial support . I am very creative at making rustic pieces so I been thinking about setting up an etsy account. The one I mainly worry about Is our little girl there’s so much going on for the first time she isn’t getting her mommy daughter dates and isn’t able to do her competitive horseback riding it breaks my heart I worked so hard my whole life to make sure she never had to go through this or go without and in an instance our lives have changed drastically because of a strangers neglect . I even think my daughter may have to speak to a therapist she’s 10 yrs old and had a meltdown the other day about how this man has taken away so much from us and how he is probably fine while we are still picking up the many scattered pieces he has left in his path .
I’m sorry about your suffering and will pray for you. Remember there’s always hope in Jesus. May God bless and comfort you.
Great recommendations! I think you nailed the essential truth of nightshifting: you can scream at the dark heavens for what it’s done to the family schedule or try to make it work for you.
Thanks for the good advice.
I’m having trouble sleeping at all, I wake up at 4 in the morning as I’m a baker and I can not get used to my husbands shift. I am lonely and I can’t help but to worry. Any sleeping tips?!
Hi Katie, I’m in the same boat as you. Whenever my husband goes on nights I usually only get to see him for a total of 30 minutes for the entire week so I just plain miss him. Though we don’t always go to sleep at the same time, we head upstairs together at the end of the night almost every night and when he is working nights it is really difficult to get into a “bedtime” state of mind. Plus it’s usually at that time of the night when worries set in, like him being too tired to drive home. For me what usually helps the most is to first try and get myself into a sleepy state of mind by making some chamomile tea and going upstairs and reading a book in bed. I also text him or call if he’s not too busy before I go to sleep. When he first started doing the night shifts, I even asked him to send me a text when he was heading home so that I wouldn’t have to worry so much about him driving home while sleepy. Those things have helped me sleep at night, still miss him like crazy though.