Dive into Summer Fun!
It’s finally summer and here in the midwest many of us truly enjoy this time of year—much needed sunshine and warmth bring us back to life after the harsh winters. Flowers blooming, kids swimming, bees buzzing…the smell of summer brings many feelings of nostalgia; spending our summers as kids without a care in the world other than finding neighborhood friends to run wild. Then we evolve into adults who must learn to be practical and responsible, causing us to lose that unbridled and carefree world we experienced as children.
Critical to overall well-being is ensuring balance and harmony in all areas. This harmony can be difficult to achieve but when we hit the sweet spot, we truly find our flow.
We get it…as mature adults and mounding responsibilities to provide for ourselves and others can make the very thought of having fun unobtainable.
Have you found that fun looks a little something like this?
Taking solo shopping trips without the kids
Sneaking episodes of your favorite show on Hulu after the kids have gone to sleep
Spending time with friends but in a refrained and polished manner
What do these experiences have in common? Practical, realistic, restricted…Totally understandable given all those competing responsibilities. And—Now is the time to think like a kid. Get rid of the automatic “but’s”…
but I have too much to do
but my kids come first
but I am invested in my work
That can all be true and important—and, as we know self-care means taking care of yourself first. Even if you are skeptical that you can let yourself completely go, consider the following:
What did “fun” look like for you throughout childhood?
What did you do, who were you with, where were you?
How did summertime feel for you? What were your favorite experiences?
Pondering these questions can help you prime your brain for creativity—nostalgia can bring us back to places where we can actually smell the fresh popcorn at the fair, the chlorine in the pool water, or the feel of the sand on our feet at the local beach. Get yourself where you need to be by visualizing these experiences.
Then, eat the ice cream, go down a slide at the park, let the watermelon run down your chin after you sink your teeth in and let it slide down your white shirt, run through a sprinkler, run through the warm rain and stomp in puddles, make sand slushies in the sandbox…Whatever it is you do—do it without a care or worry in the world!