Enjoying the Longer Days
Summer is in full swing and now that the days are longer, we are doing everything we can to soak in the sun. We accomplish more in the mornings than we do in the darkness of winter, and we are up later to ensure we are maximizing the daylight. However, when we do stop to take a break from the activities we realize one important thing, we are tired. We have spent so much time enjoying ourselves we often forget to rest. Now that we are in the peak of the season, we must re-evaluate our plans to ensure we do not overdo it.
Sleep Schedule
Everyone tries to stick to some sort of sleep schedule. Routines are important to be functional adults. That being said, we often make mistakes and get things wrong. The longer days change when we get up and we go to sleep. It happens so slowly that we don’t even realize it, then one day we oversleep or do not feel well, and it catches up to us. It really does not matter what caused the hiccup or change in our routine, what matters is what we do about it. We must take some time to see what is working for our schedule and where the problems are. Then we can come up with creative solutions to ensure we get the rest we need. Life happens but to live a healthy and functional lifestyle we must react to the changes around us. Doing so will ensure we have a great second half of the summer and year.
Work Routines
There are countless factors that change the way business is conducted and how we manage personal responsibility during the summer. It could be the holiday schedule, the childcare situation, the vacation schedule, or any number of unforeseen life changes. As a result, when, where, and how we work might need to change. We might need more or less time in the actual office, we might need to travel more, or we might need to hire a large seasonal staff. Whatever the need there is always some sort of solution. Each problem is unique and requires its own solution to be resolved. The hard part is figuring out what must be done and getting the entire team on the same page. As stated earlier, we must take time to assess the situation. This is the only way to ensure we can continue to maintain a successful, functional, and healthy work life balance.
Summer Habits
If you are like most people, you have already made some summer mistakes and hopefully have learned some lessons from them. The common ones happen to most of us; sun burn, bug bites, dehydration, making poor food choices, and staying out too late. These are all common errors made during a long summer and most of us make them early. Some of us make them often. However, we must be diligent to not make the same mistake twice and prevent us from making bigger blunders. Write down lessons learned somewhere as a reminder or keep some sort of record of missteps to revisit before big outings to ensure we are properly prepared the second time. Most importantly consider safety. Everyone hears stories and sees videos from the 4th of July firework mishaps. They are fun to laugh at, but the people involved are not laughing or enjoying the choices they made. These accidents can often be avoided through simple safety checks or even taking a few seconds to think things through. Remember, it is always better to think before we act. This is the only way to ensure we do not look like idiots, and we do not hurt ourselves by adding insult to injury.
Summer is a great time, and we should do everything we can to live in the moment and make lifelong memories. However, we want these stories to be all good. We do not want them tainted by an avoidable mistake or accident. We want to talk about the fun in the sun and not the pain of the burn afterwords, we want to be there for important family moments and not be distracted by work, and we want everyone to remain injury free and not let small mistakes turn into catastrophes. This is obtainable if we are thoughtful, plan accordingly, and remember to slow down to think. Spent a few minutes at the end of each day to access your life and how to make it better. Doing so will only ensure we have the best second half of the year possible.