To all of you guys who enjoy playing pretend, I want to suggest to try playing improv theater. There are often beginner courses and its a kind of slightly guided cooperative make believe. My personal recommendation: try long form Impro and not just short form (which I learned to be the goofier of the two). For me it was very freeing to find an outlet for this stuff where it’s suddenly even cool.
It was a long journey that is probably not so interesting. If you want a somewhat different approach than many popular mediation apps (which I’m sure all have their audience and place) try the „waking up“ app by Sam Harris. I find it to be much more down to earth and focused on introspection and (meta) perception. The difference becomes more obvious in the introduction series after a few days and maybe not right in the beginning. If you really can’t afford the price, make sure to check out their „no questions asked“ stipend options that let you select a lower price to pay (or nothing).
As boring as this answer may be, but the one thing that was most helpful for me, is meditation. I’m an atheist and I want to run away when I hear ambient yoga music and „soothing voices“ in guided meditation, so it took a while for me to find a good entry point that was suitable for me, but it improved my daily live significantly. I don’t do it every day (because I’m still human and I can’t call it a habit yet) but I know it would make my life better if I did.
Sidenote: I also tried to create a going to bed ritual with fancy face gels and face wash, but all it spawned was a lot of pimpels and a parfume smelling pillow. So I ditched that and have again no pimpels at all, now that I let my face do it’s thing and just wash it with water and some soap every now and then.
I’d be interested in other „going to bed rituals“ that you guys may have, as I like the idea to have this kind of ritual in general.
Khruangbin