Choosing Less & Embracing Summer

It's summer, which means it's time for a change in routine.  Maybe this means more time outside, more time with your kids, more visitors or more slowing down.Summer goes by really fast.  If you want to arrive at the first day of fall without regrets focus on slowing down and embracing all that this season offers.As I tell my clients and my audiences, “Be grateful for the path you’ve traveled, acknowledge where you are today and be intentional going forward.”   Here are 5 ways to choose less and embrace summer.

1. Delete social media account apps from your phone.  You don't have to completely close your accounts, just make them harder to access.  By putting these temptations out of site and making it more difficult to access them, you'll be less likely to waste time scrolling.  When you're ready to look at them, head over to your computer, set a timer and focus on getting through them purposefully.
2. Delete email from your phone.  Do you primarily access email from your phone?  If so, experiment with what it would be like to remove it.  Instead, choose to sit down at your computer a few times a day and review them intentionally, acting on what's needed and deleting what's not.  If this feels like too much to start, at a minimum, turn off all notifications.  You don't need to be interrupted whenever the latest promotional email hits your inbox.
3. Travel lighter.  Simpler doesn't always mean smaller.  But hopefully it means you intentionally choose less and feel lighter.  Experiment with only leaving the house with what you need.  Maybe that's just your wallet and sunglasses.  See what it's like to carry less on a daily basis.  I love using this scarf for hands free travel.
4. Limit your children's device usage.  As you model this in your life, you'll be teaching them to do the same.  Let them be bored.  Give them a cardboard box.  Send them outside.  Play board games when it's raining.  Establish daily reading times.
5. Read more.  If this is something you say you want to do but aren't, maybe you really don't want to "just sit down and read a book."  Maybe audio books or podcasts are more your style.  But with less time spent on social media and email, you're creating space to read or digest books and information in new ways.  Designate times for your children to read and join them.  Get involved with your local library's summer programs or join a book club to keep you accountable.  Making it more fun might be all that you need to make it actually happen.

Here's to choosing less, embracing summer and arriving at Labor Day with no regrets.To Simplicity & Joy,Lisa