Lean into the Summer Mindset

When I was a kid, summer was the most wonderful time of year. The long days, riding bikes outside, playing with friends, splashing around in the pool, vacations to the beach – what’s not to love?

As I grew older, summer lost its luster. When I got out into the working world, summer didn’t provide the relief and pure enjoyment that it used to. It was just another season during which I had to work a lot (and an unpleasantly hot season at that). There was always so much to do, and not enough real downtime. Or that’s how it felt.

In recent years, I have started to get back to that pure enjoyment. The world hasn’t slowed down to let me rest, but I have made it my priority to lean into rest, relaxation and fun. I like the term “lean into” because to me it implies a gentle but intentional movement towards something. Whereas the term has often been used to mean move towards challenges or difficulties in order to become more successful, I also believe many of us could benefit from leaning into what simply feels good.

In our work-crazed, money-obsessed society, so many of us have adopted the idea that we need to be working hard all the time if we are going to have a good life. But  if you ask me, working hard all the time isn’t a good life at all; it’s a pretty miserable and unhealthy one.

In my version of leaning in, I am allowing myself to move towards what feels good, that is, what my soul is yearning for, and what I believe to be the actual point of life (that is, to enjoy it, not to work ourselves to death.) The more I lean into rest, relaxation and fun, the more those things show up for me and seep into areas of my life that aren’t necessarily known for being fun (like work).

It’s not that I have anything against a good work ethic – not at all. If you ask anyone who knows me, I put my time in on my work. But it’s more about: what are we doing it all for? Interestingly, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the original meaning of the word “wealth” was wellbeing. Isn’t that what we’re all really looking for at the end of the day?

So as you are winding down your summer and gearing up for fall, are you bracing yourself? Tensing up? Putting your armor on, preparing to battle through the next few months? How might you lean into ease, enjoyment and rest more? Can you push and force a little less? Sometimes that might mean rolling with the chaos a little, especially if you’re trying to get the kids back into their routines.

What if you let go of your need to stay on top of everything? Chances are, what needs to get done will get done and the other stuff can wait, or maybe it wasn’t really that important after all. It definitely costs less energy to flow than it does to force or push. The more lightness there is, the more opportunity for levity, even during the chaotic morning rush to school and work. All you have to do is let go a little when you catch yourself tightening up about something.

I’m not saying there won’t be hard days, but what if the easy days started to outnumber them? Take it from me, I’ve been on the other side, stressing about every aspect of life, and I have also felt firsthand what happens when I lean in. It’s like feeling the summer breeze flow right through my mind. Leaning into the summer mindset more of the time may not make the challenges of life disappear altogether, but they will take a lot less out of you.