Summer Grind

Howdy! So this summer has been super busy for me and I’m sure most of y’all can relate. From being a full time nanny, to spending time with my family and friends, to keeping up with my summer classes and preparing for the fall, there has not been much wiggle room in my schedule. I love summer because it allows me more time to tap into my true self and get out and enjoy life more without as many stressors as there are during ths school year. I thought that I could share with y’all some of the things that I like to do to help keep a balanced summer life as well as making sure that I am not denying myself down time to recharge.

As I am sure a lot of you know, I am a extrovert and I have always loved staying busy so sometimes I can get burnt out if I don't give myself time to recoup. Something that I have learned this summer is how important it is to have a sleep schedule. For me, that looks like winding down around 9:30 and laying down at about 10:30. I aim to get at least 7 hours of sleep on work/school days since I have to wake up at 6. One of my favorite apps to use to help me stay on my sleep schedule is the Apple Health app. There are so many features in this app that I love but the "sleep" section is probably the one I use the most. You can input how many hours of sleep you are wanting to get per night and then set your bedtime and your wake up time. Before using this feature, I would frequently find myself doing something called "revenge bedtime procrastination," which is where you stay up entirely too late after a long day in order to feel some sort of control over your life, which is totally me. Now that I use the sleep feature on the Health app, bedtime never sneaks up on me since it sends me a reminder 30 minutes before my set bedtime telling me that it is time to wind down. Another thing about this feature that I love is that it puts my phone on do-not-disturb at night and once I have turned off the alarm in the morning, it tells me what the weather looks like for the day. Overall, since using this app, I have been sleeping better and longer which has made my busy days that much more enjoyable.

Something that college has taught me is the importance of quiet time. My entire life, I never really saw the importance of it, and quite frankly, I did not like sitting in silence. I disliked silence so much that when I encountered it, I would either call someone or turn on music or a show to fill it. Going off to college really forced me to get out of my comfort zone and see what a necessity quiet time is. At first, I thought that quiet time meant I had to journal but I slowly began to see that quiet time comes in many forms. Some of my favorite ways to enjoy quiet time are going for a walk or a bike ride outside, taking a relaxing bath, doing a puzzle, reading a book, or just going for a quiet drive in the car. Whenever I need quiet time, I try not to set a timer or time limit on it and just enjoy my quiet time until I feel recharged. I feel that if I set a time limit on my quiet time, I may be stopping myself from getting everything out of it that I may need. I love how flexible my quiet time can be too. It doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning or right before I go to bed. As a nanny, sometimes I can fit it into my work schedule. I do this because I think the child can benefit from quiet time as well. So often, children are consumed with technology so they too, do not know how to handle the silence, so I try to set the example. When I am watching an older kid, I like to encourage quiet time by having a time every day where we read and then with little ones I like to take them on walks outside. I feel that taking quiet time helps me clear my mind and allows my days to flow smoothly.

Lastly, this summer, I have seen the power of planning and thinking ahead. Last summer, I did not want to think about college because it stressed me out and so I did not want to do any planning ahead. I just kept putting things off in an atempt to keep enjoying my summer uninterupted by unwanted worries. But, once I got to college, I was left scrambling, always trying to play catch up which left me even more stressed. This summer, I was determined to stay on top of my stuff. It has not been super easy, as I am having to fight the urge to avoid things that stress me out. A few of the things that have helped me out with staying on top of things would be putting deadlines for things onto my school calendar on my Apple Calendar app, actually reading my emails 2-3 times a day and clearing out my email so that I do not miss any important updates from school, and doing things 3-4 weeks in advance instead of waiting until the deadline. For instance, last summer, I did not start applying for jobs in College Station until 2 weeks before I moved down there and luckily, I was able to find a good job but it was scary not knowing until the day that I moved down there since that was when I got the final word that I had a job. This summer, I knew better and began applying for jobs in early July. Now this is where quiet time is beneficial. Making my quiet time a priority has helped me handle the stress of planning ahead for college so it does not intimidate me as much as it used to. I have began to see the pluses to staying ahead of my school responsibilities and I am looking forward to not having to crunch in the fall.

Working summer jobs, taking care of my summer classes, and still trying to enjoy my last summer living at home can be challenging at times but I guess learning how to manage it all is apart of growing up. I am still figuring things out and discovering what works best for me and I have noticed that what may work for someone else may not work for me and that is ok. Most importantly, I have learned that just because I am growing up, does not mean that I have to stop having fun, it just means that I have to be intentional about making life fun. I hope that y’all are able to find these tips useful and that maybe you've found the encouragement you needed to make the most of this summer while it is still here.