Trust me when I say that I know summer is here. I waited through what seemed like a month of rain and cold for it to arrive. And I’ve been distracted in the pool since. I love the sun and the water, so summer is my favorite time of year.
In the tradition of summer around here on the blog, here is my list of five things I’ll need to survive the summer.
1. The Pool
I love our pool. I stop working between 3-4 p.m. every day the sun is shining to get in. We spend pretty much all of our weekends in there. I could not survive summer without it, and I never want to live in another house without a pool.
2. Sunscreen
Remember how I said I love the sun? Well, that still doesn’t mean I can be flippant about it. As I get older, I’m much more aware of sun damage and other harmful effects of too many rays. I use more sunscreen now than I ever have, and I think that’s a good thing.
3. Slack
I work remotely, so Slack is how I communicate with our team. I went from using Slack when necessary to using it nearly non-stop every work day as required communication. Like every lean form of communication, it has limitations, but I like being alone and on a team.
4. Apple Watch
My friend Nanci and I started a challenge right after Thanksgiving to do at least 30 minutes of exercise every day. Nanci is addicted to her Peloton, so she does hers first thing in the morning. But we didn’t even signify that we had to do it all at once. Instead, we challenged each other to move our bodies at least that much. We use our Apple watches to measure our exercise throughout the day and send each other screenshots every night. Admittedly, I don’t always love having to do the exercise, but I feel great when it’s done. It’s also rewarding to help keep each other on track.
5. Books
It would be strange for me not to put books on my list. I couldn’t make it through any season without books. I aim to read 150 books this year as I did in 2014. I’ve read more than 100 books every year since, but I’ve never hit 150 again. I think this is the year!
I always have three books going at a time — a traditional book (usually nonfiction), an audiobook (also usually nonfiction), and a digital book (typically fiction). As you likely know, I love reading. And I love reading in the pool on my Kindle Oasis most of all. It was on my list of things I needed to survive last summer. It probably should be on this list too, but I went with a more general approach.
What Do You Need to Survive the Summer?
That’s my list of things I need to survive the summer. It’s not easy to limit myself to five. It meant cutting Shipt grocery delivery (I hate going to the grocery store.) and my favorite Birks (They’re here, if you’re curious.). See how I just cheated that a little?
Now it’s your turn. What do you need to survive the summer?
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