Seven Ways to Kick the Summer Time Blues

 We were so spoiled as children…

Summer break? Who’s brilliant idea was it to raise us our entire adolescent lives with the routine of Summer’s off? To have fun and relax and then just snatch it away once we’re adults? No warnings, no severance package, no nothing! I’m upset! Now you have to work to earn days off or put in requests months in advance and you better hope nobody else is also requesting those exact days off that you want. It’s a real struggle. All the while Summer is still happening, just without you, and that’s what hurts the most.

Being an adult in the Summertime is one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through (as an adult). I just want to lay in hammocks, take day naps, eat BBQ, tan everyday (yeah, yeah sue me) and not have a responsibility in the world. But alas, nooo I have to be an adult! I have to wake up early, go to work for nine hour shifts and sit in an office no matter how perfect of a day it is to go to the lake. We need adult Summer vacations! I’m throwing it out there… let’s get a bill signed, pass a law, whatever we have to do! Let’s rally!

Until we get the bill passed, I have a few tips to fight Summertime sadness:

1. Really make use of your weekends.
   When you work 40 hours (or more) a week you need to really turn off but still turn up on the weekends. If you go to work on Monday and can’t recall one noteworthy point of your weekend then you are just not doing it right my friends. Meet up with friends and BBQ, have a pool party, go to the lake, just do something. I like to do something really fun (and tiring) on Saturdays and then have Sundays to lounge around or get housework done.
2. Don’t check your emails once you leave work.
   I know it sounds impossible but try blocking out a couple hours a day at first and work your way up to not checking them all weekend or at all after business hours. You need to leave work to the Monday thru Friday-you, and get your weekend butt off your computer! Doing a quick check can easily become a two hour respond and get lost down the rabbit hole-time suck. Don’t do it. You want to feel like you didn’t have a weekend then this is a sure way to do it…by working all weekend.
3. Make plans for during the week.
   Just because you’re working 8-10 hour days doesn’t mean you can’t go grab a cocktail or bite to eat with a friend during the week. Check out new gallery showcases or a movie for activities sans alcohol to avoid the post-alcohol funk the next day at work.
4. Try something new.
   If you can recall that “Summer of 2018 was the one where you finally learned to paddle board and you went almost three times a week that whole summer”, guess what? Summer doesn’t feel so wasted on work.
5. Make sure that you strategically saved vacation days for at least one Summer trip. 
   Look, I’m never going to lie to you guys, if you’re used to traveling and you don’t go on one trip the entire Summer all the while seeing EVERYONE’s vacation posts on Facebook and Instagram, you’re going to be a ticking time bomb. I’ve done it before and you know what? The following Summer I literally went on 3 trips in 3 weeks, but that’s what happens…if you deprive yourself of something you will end up overdoing it later. Life is all about balance.
6. Plan the “unplanned”.
   Remember impromptu pool layouts, river floats or six flag days? They are fewer are farther between as an adult. It’s just so hard to coordinate schedules. Don’t expect things to just work out that way. I mean, sure, sometimes it does but more often than not you need to plan ahead. If you want to layout with your girlfriends on the weekend you better start coordinating that shit on Wednesday. Want to go float the river? You may need an entire weeks notice, I’m not kidding y’all. It’s rough for adults.
7. Do at least one nostalgic, quintessential Summer activity. 
   All of us have “those things” we did every Summer as a kid that just made it feel all the more Summer like. I grew up in the country so for me it’s a smell thing, there’s something about taking a hike or running a deep trail that will bring back those sensory memories. But maybe you always went camping or on a road trip. Do something that takes you back to your childhood, back when you ruled Summers.

Wearing:

Vest: Nordstrom Rack
Shirt & Bag: c/o JustFab
Shorts: Nordstrom Rack
Sandals: c/o  Chooka
Watch: c/o Timex
Sunglasses & Necklace: Forever 21

What are your tricks to beating the Summer blues?
Xx Sylvia