When I was a kid, summers were truly the best part of the year. It was mostly unstructured time to hang out with friends at a pool, be lazy and bored, and annoy my parents. I was great at it. My parents’ lives seemed to slow down a bit with a short vacation or my dad home a little bit more than he was during the school year. As I got older I worked a part-time job, but still most of the days were truly lazy days of summer. Even during college summer breaks, I worked and took a class or two, but really nothing too demanding.

Today life is different for so many of us and our children. Summer school, tutoring, internships, jobs, and highly structured days are on the agenda. Most college kids that I talk to (my own included) have full-time internships for most of the summer. Adults are working harder than ever and it seems that summer vacation doesn’t happen without a cell phone or laptop along for the ride. Do we really think this is going to work well in the long run? What happened to summer? What happened to relaxation and recharging our batteries?

After summer vacations, I was always ready to go back to school. I was bored and recharged. Today’s kids look exhausted by day two of school. Adults appear to be equally as burned out, and the future doesn’t look much better. I’m not sure I have the answer, but I do have some questions, “What’s life without a summer break?” “How many summers will we have in our lives?” “How many opportunities do we have to really relax and enjoy those summers?”

Maybe it’s time to try to bring a bit of summer back into our lives. We should take a day or two away from our screens, a scheduled vacation day that is truly work free, and a few weeks a year where our children are encouraged to just hang out and be bored. Any little bit of summer will help all of us to feel stronger, happier, and more motivated to take on the challenges of our lives.

Sorry for the short blog today. I’m turning off the technology and heading for the hammock in my back yard.

Love,

Lisa Kaplin Psy. D. PCC