How to have the summer you desire
My son playing on the Texas Gulf Coast beach.
“It’s summertime and the living is easy …” Or maybe it’s not.
Last weekend I led a retreat at Kripalu Yoga & Wellness Center for 65 women. During our Saturday break, I attended a dance class and the instructor opened with these song lyrics. As I started to move, I felt my heart crest and fall in sheer longing for a slow, delicious, sultry summer filled with expanses of unscheduled time–the opposite of what I’ve been experiencing in June.
Last Friday marked the Summer Solstice-the official kick off to summer. No matter what your life stage, work schedule or whether or not you have kids, summer invites us all to slow down, savor what we love, take pleasure in the simple things, embrace nature’s gifts and really replenish our well. (More on the the power of self-care here.)
Are you over-scheduled, rushing from one thing to the next and feeling like June is no different than March? It’s not too late to course-correct. Read my tips from last summer for having a more mindful summer experience and how to say “no” so you can say “yes” to what matters here.
I am at the tail end of my book launch for my newest life balance title Nurturing the Soul of Your Family. After my last event in Asheville North Carolina this Sunday (live in Asheville? I’d love to meet you), my son and I will be spending time with my brother and his family on a rural farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina hiking, playing in streams, eating lots of local veggies and letting our days meander and lead us rather than the other way around. This will be the true start to our summer. (Planning a vacation and feeling stressed by the process? Read my 8 tips for a mindful, stress-free vacation.)
I hope each of you take time to pause this week, pull back and consciously design the summer you truly desire. Maybe you need to make a radical change in plans, say no to invitations, lower your expectations, do less, take a sabbatical from work (or work reduced hours) or ditch some of the summer camps you had planned for your kids. I challenge you to take a stand for your needs and your family’s and make this a summer that feeds you both inside and out so you can enter the fall feeling nourished and renewed.
JOIN ME! I’ll be leading a mini self-renewal retreat and book signing at The TreeHouse school in Asheville, NC on June 30th for women of all ages/life stages. Register here by June 27th to ensure a space. Hope to see you there!
Subscribe here to Live Inside Out, a weekly blog written by life balance teachers/speaker author Renée Peterson Trudeau. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping and numerous media outlets. Thousands of women in ten countries are participating in Personal Renewal Groups based on her first book, the award-winning The Mother’s Guide to Self-Renewal. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and son. More on her background here.
