Sun, Fun...and Stress?!?!

finding simplicty and joy through a *retro* inspired summer experience

If I am being honest, I have not been a fan of the summer months for quite some time. In fact, there are moments when I feel even more down in the summer. The heat, humidity, and overall ick feeling —if you're not a fan of summer, you get what I am saying.

For many years, early in the summer, I would start to wish away the time, waiting for those cool, crisp days of autumn to arrive. But what am I really doing when I say these things to myself?

Well, for one thing, I am not living in the present, something I admit I am not great at, even though I know how much it benefits our mental health.

But worse…I am wishing away time spent with my little ones.

Time, that we all know, goes by way too fast.

This will be my second year *attempting* to embrace the summer with more presence and child-like awe as my own children experience it.

As we just celebrated our twins' 8th birthday, I felt a rush of guilt and panic. How many more summers will they just want to play out in the backyard and have me with them?!

The time is fleeting.

…and I don't want to spend another summer wishing it away for the comfort of a "better" season.

Embracing the Gentleness of Summer

Whenever I need to slow down and be more in the moment, I like to take inspiration from other times. As a deeply nostalgic person, I love past time periods and find joy in just about anything vintage, from lifestyle to food to simpler family traditions. So when I found myself not at all looking forward to the season, I decided I had to make it fun…in ways that lit my soul up but also would bring intentional moments with my family.

A Retro Summer Experience 

I fall into that "elder" millennial group, and because of this, I have incredibly fond memories of a *mostly* analog childhood. I did have those original Nintendo sets (you know what I'm talking about), but for the most part..it was outside, backyard, in our kid-sized pools, and with friends riding bikes. We were fortunate to live in a little beach town; we were *literally* a hop, skip, and jump away from being in the sand and sea.

Shoes barely were worn on feet, even to walk on the scalding pavement to the beach or ride our bike to a friend’s house.

Our lawn chairs were those aluminum-weaved ones, that made it through the 70s—remember those?! 

Badminton was the family fun activity; the net always stayed up, and birdies would always be scattered among the freshly cut grass.

We took our Igloo cooler, filled with most likely toxic-colored drinks or cola, to the beach as our floppy plastic beach bags dragged behind us. 

We would wait for the ice cream truck to make an appearance on our block, get that little piece of "free" bubblegum with our cold treat, and then compete to see who could blow the biggest bubble. 

We would walk to our neighborhood video shop to rent a movie to watch with friends

…did our parents even know where we were half the time?!

We lived in the moment.

We enjoyed every single summer day.

I want my children to have similar summer memories, not one with a stressed-out mom wishing away time! 

So, this year, I decided to pull from these simpler times to create our own retro-inspired summer.

Joy > Stress

Living in the moment does not come easily to most mothers. We are constantly thinking of our to-do lists and what is to come next, worrying about one thing or another, or, if you are anything like me, thinking of past experiences that we could have handled differently.

But all of that robs us of the present time with our loved ones. It eventually wears away at our minds and souls, where joy is not seen in most everyday moments.

As I was getting all tangled up in my ruminations the past few weeks, I realized, as cliche as it may sound, how precious this one life is, how every single moment we have with those we love is truly a gift.

It led me to take a step back and figure out where I wanted to spend time and what mattered the most, and unfortunately, it also shined a light on all the hard work I needed to put into my mindset to turn some of how I had been feeling around.

So, when I realized I had to lean into simplicity and find those things that lit me up again, I just knew I had to share them here with you, too!

Read & explore the blog post here. It's a listicle of sorts

↠ favorite outdoor backyard activities for the family

↠ using the library to create retro (aka simpler) moments

↠ summer movie list

and more

It is a much lighter, fun post—sometimes, we really do just need that lightness in life, and that is what this blog post brought to me when I created it. I hope that it gives you the same feeling when scrolling through! I definitely plan to do more things like this on the main blog in the future!

***

For Some Pondering

I will leave you with a couple of questions for you to either journal or just think about as you go about these next couple of summer months.

What do you consider your highest priorities? Now, review your past week, and be honest with yourself. Are you really making these your top priorities in the actions that you take? What can you do to turn this around so you are focused on what truly matters the most?

When you look back on these early years with your children, what do you want them to remember? What do you want to remember?

If you want more ideas to reset your mind and explore some deeper journal prompts, check out my letter from last year: The June Retreat. I will also be revisiting it this month to clear out and refocus!

See you in the next one!