You can rest and still get sh*t done this summer
I’m having a battle right now.
In my head.
The battle is between Let’s do all the things and have a productive summer! and Ooof, I’m spent and I need some time to seriously recharge my batteries. It goes something like this:
The sun is finally out after weeks of rain, and the weeds are overflowing, and, look, there’s those 3 unfinished yard projects. And outside smells yummy right now.
Yea, but what are you doing to outreach in your business today? Have you networked with anyone for new workshop connections? How does weeding help you with that?
Yea, I emailed the vet school and got a call on the schedule. It’s cool.
That’s not enough. Geez, do you even know how to run a business?! Aren’t you worried about August yet? There’s nothing set up for August. HELLO. August.
Yea, but it feels like summer outside and I want to work in the yard. Get my hands in the dirt. It’s May.
OH, actually I need to walk the dog because you need exercise too, and I just read 10k steps reduces the risk of dementia by 51%! And the dog deserves another walk.
Nah. Let’s just go watch the bee hives and feel their buzzy energy instead…
End scene.
For now at least. Until it starts back up again.
Every time this happens, I come back to this question.
What does it mean to create a restorative summer that feels aligned with the flowy, rejuvenating energy this season brings?
Where you still get shit done, but it’s the good kind of productive that when you wrap it up, you feel freer or lighter.
How do we step out of the toxic productivity cycles? How do we make sure this type of productivity isn’t filling our schedule and heads all summer long? (And no, your one week vacation where you sort of don’t check your email won’t do the trick.)
I’m still unlearning a lifetime of hustle and toxic busyness. Even in the summer with gardening, I learned in childhood that there’s always weeds, needs, and produce to prepare for eating or canning or preserving. Summers were essentially an even busier time than the rest of the year since longer light meant more things could be squeezed in.
Fast forward to today. Now, gardening is a balance of what has to be done next, what do I want to give time and energy to, and what is the productive or responsible thing to do. For me, that means I’m less hands-on as a beekeeper, I have more weeds around, I don’t always follow the best timeline for planting, and I have projects that take weeks rather than a weekend to complete.
What’s your version of this? We all have (or want to have) that thing we do in the summer that helps us feel so wildly alive. What is your wildly alive activity? (Not sure what makes you feel wildly alive during the summer? I get it. Let’s start with the part (or parts) of summer that feel good or you always look forward to.)
Through our work together, one of my 1:1 clients reframed her approach to getting things done. “It’s not about getting everything done on my to-do list. Instead it’s a question: These are the resources I have today, so what do I have capacity for?” This is a beautiful, compassion mindset shift and interrupts these battles we have in our head.
Instead of a battle, create a summer where all the pieces that matter most can find a way to flow together.
Join us for the upcoming workshop. I created it because I know you’ll be able to shift into fall and winter energy more easily if you tap into summer’s restorative productivity juiciness now.
The workshop is on June 8 from 11am-1pm MT. It's $20 -- and I'll send out the recording after in case you can't join us live.
Here are a few questions to ponder until then:
What's taking up your valuable brain space?
What are your priorities today? Do you have capacity for each of those?
Have you added these to your schedule so they happen before you do the grind tasks?