Four Ways to Make Your Summer Fun

Summer is a beautiful season in Ohio. We work hard for it, enduring plenty of chilly, sunless days to earn that golden payoff. This year, though, summer feels less festive than usual. It’s difficult to find ourselves without baseball, outdoor concerts and those visits, reunions and occasions that characterize summer, making it so much fun.

This year, it’s a summer of sanitizer, masks and worries about the spread of COVID-19. But it’s still summer. We need it just as much this year as we do any other year. So, what can we do to make summer 2020 meaningful but also safe?   

Accept our limitations 

Before we can discuss how to embrace the summer, it’s important to accept its limitations. The CDC explains: “Older adults and people of any age who have serious underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness.”  It’s hard to hear that message. It’s difficult to deal with restrictions when they go on for an extended period of time. It’s lonely, exhausting and stressful. But adhering to the restrictions stands to keep us healthy and reduce the spread of COVID-19.

As difficult as it is to continue to our hibernate, the CDC assures that it’s the right thing to do. The CDC explains: “The more closely you interact with others and the longer that interaction lasts, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spreading.” So, the precautions we’re taking, even though they can feel hard to live with, are an important way to keep us all healthy. You’re doing the right things, even though it’s not easy.

Embrace this reality

While this new reality is not what any of us would have asked for, it’s what we have. So how can we make it ours? There’s a lot of downtime, plenty of unstructured hours, in our current reality. That can feel exhausting, unrelenting and lonely. Acknowledge those feelings and make your plans around them. It’s important to stay busy and motivated during this time. When we look at our calendar, and we don’t have anything coming up, that can feel hard to stomach. Create small, satisfying routines for yourself. This helps to break up the day and to give it structure and meaning. Consider this sample:

Morning schedule

Take a morning walk.

Come home and have coffee and breakfast on the porch.

Pray or meditate outside.

Write one letter or make one phone to a child, grandchild, sibling, niece, nephew or friend each day.

Read the news.

Do one activity - sew something, clean something, paint something, plant something, etc.

Read your book until lunchtime.

Give yourself fun, meaningful activities to structure your time. Then stick to those. Life is different now. We are all living a very scaled down version of our existence. We must actively resist the urge to just collapse into boredom or sadness. We can do this by working with what we have and building those things we enjoy into our daily routine.

Give  

Giving feels good. It makes us feel connected. It reminds us how important we are and how much we have to share. Undoubtedly, if you weren’t hunkered down at home, you’d be flipping pancakes at a church breakfast, working on a neighborhood rummage sale or attending a fundraiser for your community. It’s heartbreaking not to be able to attend those social events that help the community and provide fun, social engagement.

The world still needs your care and your talent, even though your way of sharing that may look different now. Many churches and food banks are still collecting money and food items; they’re busier now than ever. Another great way to get involved is to write letters to American service men and women overseas. It keeps our military professionals going to know that their fellow Americans back home are thinking of them and praying for them during their deployments. Sending them your encouragement means a lot. Another way to reach out, consider Volunteer from my Couch, which enables you to safely volunteer for a variety of worthy causes from your own home.

Celebrate

Summer is all about sensations - the feelings, the smells, and the flavors. Think about what it means to you and pursue those sensations. Put Popsicles on your Visiting Angels Caregiver’s shopping list. Make s’mores or homemade milkshakes. Grill some hot dogs. Get some root beer or lemon aid. Make your mom’s raspberry pie. Catch a lightening bug. Go fishing. Blow bubbles.

This summer is all about relishing the small things. Think about what those are. Write about what summer looks like, felt like, tasted like when you were a kid. Recreate what is available to you. Nostalgia is powerful, and summer is made for it.