The Summer of Me

By now I’m sure your social media streams are flooded with kids going to camp photos and all the fabulous vacation snapshots from Italy and other fabulous locations. Mine sure has.

As much as I love planning and scheduling, even I find the big push to make the most of your summer a little tiring. I read an article recently that really summed up my feelings on the issue. Kristin Hewitt, a sports reporter and blogger, announced that her family would being ‘doing nothing’ for the summer. She explains that rather than scheduling every free moment of her children’s lives, the summer would be better spent getting in some R&R and letting the kids decide what they wanted to do.

She’s dubbed it her ‘Summer of Me’ and I love the idea!  I think my desire to have so many plans over the next couple of months stems from a bit of  FOMO. However, I think that over-planning can often result in missing out in the moment. It’s impossible to do every fun thing or attend every event you want to. So ultimately what’s the point of all this stress? We should all be more like Kristen or my friend Cass – and just go with the flow.

Here’s how to embrace your own Summer of Me:

Prioritize – Okay, so you don’t have to go all out and cancel all your plans for the summer. That might be a little extreme. But you can condense what you already have. Pick a few things that you definitely want to do. If there’s a commitment that you’re not really excited about, don’t be afraid to cancel. Be an essentialist here.

Letting Go – I know what you’re thinking – but what if I don’t go to the outdoor screening of Roman Holiday in my local park and it turns out to be amazing! Then how will I feel? Much like the famous saying ‘time you enjoyed wasting, was not wasted’. If you had an enjoyable evening in, instead of going out then you’ve still had a good day overall. Plus, it’s just as possible that the outdoor screening will get rained out.

Be as lazy as you want – We’re so conditioned to be constantly doing things, that the idea of spending an entire day on your sofa is almost abhorrent. In reality, I believe a little self indulgence never hurt anyone. So give yourself permission to be a little lazy – it’s not like you’re going to do it every day. If you’re looking for a new TV show to binge watch ‘GLOW’ on Netflix is on my list. It’s written by the same people who did Orange is the New Black.

If you are getting involved in the Summer of Me movement let me know how it goes!