Although the cool temperatures remind me that it’s technically spring…and inconsistently so…in mid-Michigan, it’s officially summer according to the university’s academic calendar.
Like so many academics, summer holds great promise as a fertile—and hopefully productive—playground for me to develop &/or advance a bevy of ideas, plans, goals and quite frankly to have some fun!
For years (like so many others), I’ve transitioned into summer with a requisite list of things I plan to do. Yet, I learned years ago that such a list is only a “wish” list unless I actively plan what I hope to do AND accommodate time to do so actively through coordinating my calendar to hold time and space for all the things I planned.
I also plan to extend exceeding kindness and grace to myself during these weeks to ensure that the plans and associated scheduled space and time don’t begin to feel stressful. This is critical as I unapologetically live a stress-limited life and that means that I have to hold myself and others accountable for extending as much (or more) grace to me as the named and unnamed expectations.
Whatever you have planned for the summer, I wish you great success! I also wish you an abundance of grace for the summer journey, whether it’s already upon you or still a ways ahead.
As always, if you have thoughts on this or other posts, find me on Twitter at @BerondaM