5 Simple Living Shifts For Summer
What kind of a season is summer? With it's endless, cloudless days, sticky drips of ice cream and overhead buzz and flutter of transient birds and insects? It's a season, to me, of both rest and projects. After a spring of 'hustle' and growth there is now space and opportunity to enjoy the fruits of that labour, while this same space reinvigorates inspiration and creativity and brings new ideas to the fore. This has played out like this in my life and business: I set a low income goal for the quarter so that money and work didn't dominate the season, but have instead spent time working on new offerings and educating myself.
So what are a few easy shifts and activities we can do in our lives to capitalise on this conversely restful and inspired season? Here are a few of my simple living shifts for summer...
Follow an idea
What's the big idea you can't shake? Have you got an idea for a new e-course, a book, a whole new business even? Maybe it's not a big idea, maybe it's something small - an idea for a blog post, a drawing, a photograph. Whatever the idea is that's been lurking in your head, follow it. I'm not saying you have to spend your summer setting up a new business, but explore the ideas. Do some research in the evenings sat on the sofa, write while the kids are pre-occupied, roll the ideas over and over in your head when you're out on a walk. Use the brain space and longer days that summer brings to feed your creative soul and develop something without pressure. Maybe it turns out your idea isn't feasible right now, and that's ok because now you can finally move on from it or make it into something else. But maybe, just maybe, your idea is the best thing that's ever happened to, you just don't know it yet.
So make it your summer project to find out. (By the way, if you want some direction and community while exploring your project, my free Summer Accountability Club might be just what you need).
Eat fruit
Berries and soft fruits are never going to be tastier or juicier than they are right now, the perfect simple indulgence. You can pick your own, visit a farmer's market or just choose the most local varieties you can in the supermarket - and you can check which fruit and veg is at it's prime on Eat The Seasons.
If, like me, you have tendency to stick a punnet in the fridge and forget about it until it's too late, this is a trick from my mum: rather than put them away with the rest of the shopping, prep it all (so topping and halving strawberries, slicing peaches etc) and put in a big bowl in the fridge. That way you can grab a spoonful when you feel like it without the faff of chopping. Don't forget if your fruit does go a little bit over it's nothing that a good crumble can't fix 😉
Walk barefoot
In the UK, at least, there is a really finite amount of time we can feasibly walk around barefoot - probably eight out of 52 weeks. Despite the fact that the skin on my feet is apparently more fragile than tissue paper, I relish the opportunity to be barefoot. Because it's so rare that our feet feel anything but the inside of a sock, my theory is that when we go barefoot the textures and experience is amplified because we're so unused to feeling things in that area of the body. It's such a good way to really experience a grounding with the Earth and to mindfully appreciate the scratchy sinking of sand or the cool wetness of dew on the grass. So whether it's on the beach or in the garden, make some time to connect your bare feet to the planet.
Read in the long light
I was going to say specifically to read a book but you know what? Just read anything. Summer is the perfect time to really up your reading - there is ample natural light so you don't need to strain your eyes and you aren't limited to the indoors. A long afternoon sat by the river finishing a novel or taking a pile of magazines to the beach is a great way to rest and relax, as well as to stir the inspiration and creative pot in your brain. After reading fiction for a few hours I'm an infinitely better writer, and after reading a magazine I have about fifteen new content ideas, so it's really a no-brainer.
Be a local tourist
Whether you're off on a holiday this summer or not, be a tourist in your local area. Buy some bread and cheese from a deli and go for a picnic in your local beauty spot or park, spend a morning in a museum you'd never usually go to, go out for dinner, walk around your town taking photos (taking photos, by the way, is a great way to re-frame how you see a place - when you're looking for details and angles to shoot it makes you see your home in a whole new way). These are all simple things you can do capture a feeling of escapism even if you're not technically escaping physically. We aren't having a holiday this summer, but we are planning day trips and walks within an hour's radius. There's more inspiration about this kinda thing in my post about planning micro-adventures.
