Stress Less This Summer: 4 Tips to Create A Happier Summer
When you hear the word summer, what are the images that pop into your head or the thoughts you have? Summer might make you think of being outside, warm weather, sunshine, or time to relax and recharge after a long winter and spring. Do you ever find it difficult to relax when there’s so much free time? Is boredom an issue for you or you have a lot you want to do, but you’re feeling unmotivated?
During the rest of the year, your time might be incredibly structured and your schedule is packed with tasks. When summer hits, the schedule changes. Days are longer and summer breaks start, giving you more opportunities to fill your time. If you’re a student, your schedule was probably full of classes, studying for classes, club activities, sports practices and games, and trying to find time for a social life with friends and family. (Seriously, student schedules are ridiculously packed)! Then, school ended and now you’ve got loads of free time. Maybe you have a job and plans to hang out with friends, but what about the rest of your downtime? It can be overwhelming to not have a routine or a schedule of expected things to do. So, what do you do?
1st: Breathe. Breathing is always good, but sometimes an intentional deep breath helps slow things down.
2nd: Create a summer bucket list. A bucket list is a visual tool to see what you want from your time. This can be organized into preferences, too. Whether you create a list organizing the activities by importance or group them into categories (“Make sure to do,” “Hope to do,” and “Won’t be distressed if I don’t do”), you’re identifying what you want your summer break to look like.
3rd: Set a flexible routine. Flexibility allows you to change your mind, your plans, and your expectations. When creating your routine, start with the set activities like work. Then, start to fill in your day with what times you want to wake up and go to bed so your day has bookends. Next, add in your preferred daily activities. Doing things at a similar time each day helps your brain remember what you’re planning and increases your ability to get it done, especially when your motivation is low. Your whole day doesn’t have to be scheduled. This is still your summer break, of course, so having free blocks of time is just as important as having set activities to do.
4th: Save your list and your routine. I live for my daily planner where I write down times and activities so I can easily view my free spaces. Find what works best for you with a calendar or planner app, a physical planner, or a family calendar. Don’t rely on your memory to remember your schedule. That takes mental energy and sometimes things slip through the cracks. You’re trying to stress LESS, that means giving your brain a break from having to recall a lot of information.
Summer break gets to be exactly that: a break! If you want it, it’s a time to recharge and recover after hectic periods of work and school. It also gets to be when you have more time to do the things you choose. Use these strategies to set your summer up with a purpose, so you can stress less and enjoy more.
