This series is dedicated to the simple rituals we all have. The ones that make our day better most likely unknowingly so. Whether that's reading a newspaper at breakfast on a Sunday or taking the dog for a walk before work. I want to celebrate these small yet significant rituals that we take for granted every day.

Eye Masks

My eyes tire very easily. I am sensitive to light and cannot focus on one thing for very long and as a result cannot edit, read or be in bright light for too long without getting a headache or feeling the need to fall asleep. It sucks, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of it because it really prevents me from a lot of things. For now, I use two types of eye masks throughout the day.

During the day and just before bed

I use this eye mask for the morning and evening. I pop it in the fridge overnight so that it is cold for me in the morning to wake up those sleepy eyes, and then in the evening about an hour before bed, I pop it in hot water, or use a Japanese hot eye mask, to soothe aching, tired eyes that are sore from the day.

At bed time when I go to sleep

I then use this eye mask, made of 100% silk to cover my eyes so that no light passes through to ensure a good nights sleep and rest those eyes entirely. In the morning I slowly ease it off so as not to shock my system and take it off by keeping my eyes closed, to allow my eyes to adjust naturally to the light.

Office

I simply leave the hot/cold (Plemo Sleep Mask) eye mask at the office if I know I am going to be there all day. Otherwise I just carry it with me. The other alternative is to buy two and leave one at the office and have one at home, but I try not to have a lot of things, especially when I can use one thing multiple times and am so all over the place. If I were in a stable job and knew that every day I would be at the office without fail, then I would purchase another one to keep at the office.

Travel

I take both when I travel because most hotel rooms or air bnb's have a fridge. If I am staying in a hotel, I will take my Japanese heated eye masks with me since they require no heating tool. They act the same as hand warmers that are often used when skiing, then you take them out of the packaging, they immediately heat up. I love these as they come in different smells (my favourites are lavender and yuzu), but as you can imagine I haven't been able to find them here in the UK, so I stock up in Japan and use them sparingly. I'll let you know if I find an equivalent over here!

This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. This post includes affiliate links and I would love if you decided to use them. Affiliate links + referrals programs help educators like me, at no extra cost to you, fund the free content that we provide on our blogs.