As I write this post, I have 4 more days of school. I can do this. Part of what keeps me going at this point is thinking about all the things I want to do over the summer. When I was in elementary school, the thought of summer was a long stretch of time that I loved. Now that I am (much) older, the anticipation of summer feels like a long stretch of time but actually goes by far too quickly. I have learned that I really need to be intentional in how I plan my time in the summer so that I can relax and enjoy that time, but also be productive and spend time with people I love.
If you want to do the same, try these tips for planning:
1 – Think about how you want to feel by the end of the summer. What will make you feel like it was a great summer for you? Will you feel more connected to people you love? Will you feel more relaxed? Productive? Healthier? More financially stable from working at another job? All of the above?! Just take a few seconds to jot down words that express how you want to feel.
2 – Now think about what you would need to do in order to have those feelings. Will you need to plan to spend time with certain people? How much time? What will you do? What would make you feel more relaxed and less stressed by the end of the summer? What routines would help you feel more productive? What routines would help improve your health or fitness? How might you earn some extra money this summer?
3 – I like to use time in the summer to spend time with people I love or to catch up with friends I might not see as often during the school year. Try to make definite plans (with set dates) for some of these visits. I tend to stay up later and watch more movies with my husband during the summer. That may not happen every night, but I usually list that as something I want to do every week.
4 – Make a list of things you may not be excited about (organizing closets comes to mind), but might be something that needs to get done. I do tend to save these bigger organizing projects for summer since I need a bigger block of time in which to get them done. Yes, I will feel more productive and organized when they are done, but they aren’t necessarily the goal for my summer.
5 – I also make a list of things I just plain want to do. Reading more books always tops the list because reading is my passion. While I often do improve myself in some way by reading books about education and other nonfiction, I also do a fair amount of lighter fiction reading in the summer!
6 – Do you have summer travel plans or times when you will have house guests? List those dates and block a day before or after for packing/unpacking or for getting your home ready for guests.
7 – List dates for other summer activities (Vacation Bible School, summer camps for kids, appointments, etc.).
8 – Once you have dates set for various activities, look at the time remaining. Go back to those lists of routines you want to implement, tasks you want to complete, people with whom you want to spend time, and things you want to do.
Plug in the tasks to complete but try to set time limits or deadlines for those tasks so they won’t take up too much valuable time.
Look at your routines. What will need to be done daily? What will need to be done weekly?
Look at the things you want to do and the people with whom you want to spend more time. Where can you schedule those activities?
If your calendar looks like mine, it’s probably fairly full! We don’t want to overly schedule summer (part of the joy of summer is the time to be spontaneous), but we do want to feel as if we used the limited time we have to do the things that are most important to us.
Here’s to an awesome summer ahead!
