A Slow Down Summer
Ya’ll back to school and sports is kicking my butt, I am so tired!!
After a really slow and restful summer by body is basically in shock with the 5:00 am wake up times and the nonstop schedule of school, cheer, work back in full swing and all the things! And truthfully, as hard of a transition I am having back to our normal schedule I would not change it for the world because we had the best and most slow summer and it was just what I needed.
I have shared before that I have burnt out at work and quite frankly in life in general and I have been making conscious decisions the last couple years to always be evaluating my rhythms, listening to my mind/body and making pivots to make sure that I am taking care of myself in the process of chasing my dreams. It isn’t always easy and some of the decisions aren’t always fun to make but making the choice to slow down and say no to mostly everything has served me really well especially this year.
Over the summer for work, I dialed it way back and focused on setting up systems and processes to help streamline things as we head back into fall. I also only did one pop up a month for my boutique versus the many I thought I was going to plan. We didn’t do a ton of camps and playdates trading that instead for lots of family time. We slept in and didn’t use alarms. We ate at home a lot trying new recipes and cooking together. We stayed in comfy clothes and took naps. Basically, we had the most chill summer we have ever had.
And it was good for our souls, every single one of us.
Here are three things I learned while slowing down this summer that I truly don’t think I would have had the space or time to think about had we just kept going with our busy schedules….
Family time is our favorite time. We love hanging with our extended family and we love time with our friends but nothing beats the time spent just the 5 of us. We laughed and played and cuddled and just really enjoyed our time together. We have always been a close family but this summer made us even closer and was such a good reminder of just how much we enjoy each other and would pick time with the 5 of us over any other time.
I enjoy cooking. During the school year it is easy for me to jump onto the “I hate cooking” train but the reality is, I don’t like cooking in a rush. I like to take my time, try to recipes and feed my family home cooked meals without the pressure of having to leave at a certain time or not eat until 10pm because we were somewhere all evening. Being home more allowed me to foster the love of cooking again.
My body needed rest. Well, I knew this one but I really learned why and how my mind and body needed to rest. And not just physical rest as in sleep but as in disconnecting and reading again. Leaving my phone behind and being in the moment. My mind and body needed a reset of unhealthy habits of constantly being on the go and available and I have set up learned boundaries even better than before.
While I am fighting sleeping at this very moment at 5:30 PM (ha!) I know that I will get used to the busyness again but I am grateful for a season of slow down and look forward to implementing this type of schedule every summer….I know the older I get the more I will appreciate the boundaries and rhythms I am creating now!
