Preparing for Summer
Summer is beginning. The days are long, the sun is out and the structure of the school year is gone. There is so much about summer that I love, mainly the warmth, the light and the abundance of watermelon. But every year I have to remind myself to enjoy the moment, enjoy the chaos and let the summer move as slowly as possible. I have to remind myself that it is not important to look ahead to next week or next month but to spend more time in the right now. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with filling up the weeks. I fill them with important things for me and the minis and I fill them with nothing, sometimes just to have something to cross off my to-do list at the end of the day. This year I am going to enjoy the laid back empty moments of summer. Summer brings in an abundance of spontaneous get togethers and time with friends and it is important to have the time and flexibility to say yes.
For some reason, there always seems to be an excuse to get off track, to drink too much, eat too much and to give up on a workout to spend the afternoon at the beach. I am all for saying yes to all of the above, just make sure that a late night here or there, a few missed workouts, and a few too many beers, doesn’t turn into a daily habit or an endless reason to keep up with the basics on nutrition. Finding the balance between keeping summer carefree without being an excuse to overindulge and give up on all your good habits can be hard. Let the moments be carefree, but try to keep the weeks structured. In other words, try to find ways to maintain your fitness and nutrition goals.
As the over indulgence in everything life starts to take effect, be prepared and make smart choices. I am trying to look at the whole picture this summer. My training might not see any great Personal Records, my nutrition might need to be a little more planned out on those weekend aways or even on the last minute night out. But I don’t want to lose what I have worked for. I don’t want summer to be an excuse to become the excuse. It won’t always be easy, some days I might be squeezing in a workout or I might not be able to workout at all. Some days I might have to focus on getting in my protein and saying no to the ice cream sandwiches. But my goal is to carve out time in the whole week to keep me on track.
For some reason, summer is a hard time to stick to workout schedules and even harder to stick to nutritional goals.
I am looking at my schedule for the next few months, I am trying to remind myself to just slow down and take a deep breath. Spending my time stressing out about accomplishing all my goals might be realistic. Getting anxiety about how to structure a few of my weeks deep into summer is a waste of time at the moment. And honestly, this is not the way I want to view my summer, the image of the carefree time and sun kissed lifestyle I am trying to create.
This year, I am changing my focus, changing my view of things. Each week will be different, the boys will be at different camps, I will be adding summer camps and strength programs but also clients will go away for periods of time. I am going to look at each week and schedule the things that need to get done. I will breath slowly and deeply and know that I can accomplish everything as it comes. Each week will come and go and will become memories of this summer. I want to look back with smiles and happiness. I want to have time to keep some sort of structure while also allowing spontaneity and adventure.
Summer does have it’s stresses. The lack of structure from week to week and the dependence of my children while still needing independence is a hard balance. But I don’t want to spend my summer stressing out about things that don’t need to be stressed about. I want this summer to be filled with things I want to do and people I want to be with. At the end of the summer I want my memories filled with smiles, laughter and the ability to say yes to things that come up at the last minute.