Over the past two weeks I attended multiple graduations, celebrated two daughter’s birthdays, and reconnected with groups of friends we hadn’t seen in a while. It’s been a time to really feed my soul with the time we’ve invested in so many relationships. Meanwhile, my laundry list (both literally and figuratively) has piled up, seemingly unattended waiting to be dealt with. I woke up with this morning with a familiar sense of dread, knowing that the day of reckoning had come. Summer may be upon us, but I’m not quite sure we’re ready for it yet.

First, not to miss the moment I wrote out in my journal exactly what I was feeling and why. I’ve learned to recognize this pattern of when I get overwhelmed, so I wanted to name for myself what was going on. Then, I took out a few blank sheets of paper and began to clear my head by writing out in list form all the things I’ve been putting off that needs to get done. I didn’t put a timetable on it or force rank the priority of said list, that all comes next. First, I simply wanted to empty the barrel. Multiple pages later, I finally found myself at the end of my list. Did I feel any better? Actually, yes. At least I’d accomplished one thing thus far, and that was capturing everything in one place.

Another part of my reflection exercise was simply committing to a few intentions. We’re in a season of transition over here. School is out as of this week. We have three weeks of flux where the girls are going to be home before we start a month long road trip up the east coast and into Canada. While I’m thrilled about what’s to come, we’ve got to make it through the next three weeks first. And with that comes establishing some routines and guardrails to ensure we all thrive.

Here’s what I came up with for myself…

Things I want to be intentional about as we head into the best summer of our lives…

Rest to maintain my stamina– this looks like going to bed at a decent hour daily, not booking any Saturday activities for myself, picking at least one day each week to intentionally doing nothing. While the past few weeks of reconnecting have been amazing, the trade off has been less time to simply relax and do nothing.

Don’t pick fights– we’re in close quarters, everyone is home, I’m going to have to let some stuff go. This will be hard, I’m not gonna lie. We’re going to need a family meeting about this one to see how we can come to some compromises. Already I’ve been tested in this area and it’s only 10am!

Stick to a routine– I know what’s important to me, I know what my mind and body needs. Summer does weird things to our routines, so why not be intentional about how you want to lean into the vibes of what summer brings? For us that could look like more time outside, later bedtimes, all as long as we figure out what works best for us.

These things alone will help me clear space to get the most out of this precious time while helping me to show up as my best self each day with the people I get to be around.

SDW3