If you need me I’ll be over here wearing Birkenstocks until my toes are cold, mourning the end of summer. Okay granted it’s been a HOT week in NYC, but I digress. Heat wave or not, I can feel those fall, back-to-school vibes.
I believe anyone can feel those vibes, they just need to have a comfortable place to chill in and do their work. Probably all those too bothered only need to get a fully functional cooling system to make their place a comfortable abode. They may likely need to hire professionals from blueoxenergy.com to get a new HVAC installed or the old one tuned up. After this is sorted, they might help you get summer vibes, just like mine.
Apart from this general context of the hot sun, there are also other fun elements during summer. There are so many outdoor activities to be scheduled during this summer break. Preplanning all these summer plans might have reduced my burden admits the busy program.
As I said earlier this week, this past summer was pretty magical.
This summer I:
• traveled to Copenhagen and Stockholm for a school trip
• finished my masters degree
• auditioned at Y7 and went through their hiring process
• went to Costa Rica to teach yoga on a retreat
• taught a lot of yoga
• and also did a lot of nothing. Which is glorious too.
I’ll be honest (when am I not) previous summers were really tough on me. Last summer things felt pretty low-key because I was only balancing one summer course and some freelance work. I struggled with suffocating guilt that I wasn’t doing enough and therefore I felt useless.
This summer felt different, though. Not just because all of the above happened. But also because I gave myself permission to really do less. And I felt a million times better because of it.
Without further ado, here is what I learned from all of that this summer:
Lessons I Learned this Summer
My value as a human being is not based on my productivity
Like I said, this is a concept I really struggled with in previous summers. If I wasn’t juggling a million things, I felt worthless as a human being. Which is pretty messed up when you think about it.
I constantly have to remind myself that my value is not based on my productivity. And this summer I was able to enjoy my downtime more without the gross guilt associated with it.
Do the scary things
Traveling to Europe with a bunch of strangers 8+ years younger than me. Going to Costa Rica, once again with strangers, to teach yoga. Auditioning at a major yoga studio and SoulCycle. All scary things. All things I almost chickened out of doing because I was SO scared.
In the end I’m happy I didn’t chicken out. I mean, I’m more than happy, they all ended up being really important and incredible experiences. Even my failed SoulCycle audition.
I’m learning to embrace those scary moments and do the thing anyway. It is always worth it.
Honor your body
Bar Method has been my main workout this summer, which is weird after years of doing ALL the bootcamp classes and ALL the burpees. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes I still like a killer fitness class, but it’s no longer what I crave. Instead of fighting that feeling I’ve been honoring my body. In turn I’m always excited to work out (which is saying a lot because I have to travel to Williamsburg to go to Bar Method) and I just overall feel good because of it. And that’s what working out should do — make you feel GOOD, not crappy.
You can be happy during the transition
Right now I’m in this awkward transitional phase. Grad school is no longer taking up a chunk of my time (and my brain space!) and now I’m figuring out what’s next for me. I’m building up my schedule as a yoga teacher and continuing to audition and explore other opportunities.
Even though things aren’t 100% where I want them to be, I’m sticking to my word of 2018 CONTENT and I’m learning to be happy and enjoy where I’m at.
Don’t forget to recharge
Taking a step back to recharge, when you can, is SO important. It’s when I get my best ideas and do my best thinking. Sometimes my recharging was for an extended time — weekends in which I barely looked at instagram and instead spent all day reading in the park with Jeremy. And sometimes it was short moments when I’d go for an extra walk just because.
We need to give ourselves those little breaks, and cut ourselves some slack.
✨
Your turn: What lessons did you learn from this summer?
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