Summer Blues

Is it just me or does Summer sometimes suck?

Ahh, summer. A time of great joy in the hearts of children across the U.S. It marks a period of freedom from the every day torment of figures, numbers, and letters scrolled upon a class wall and in text books. But what does summer mean when you're an adult? Do we still feel that same giddiness and elation that we felt sitting in our desks at 2:45pm on the last day of school? Not really. Unless you are a teacher.

Gone are the days of mindless TV watching for 6 hours and playing outside 'til the sunsets for two glorious months. Now, as an adult, I get the joy of earning another days pay while the sun waves me by. It hardly feels like season at all besides - HOT.

Do you know what I mean?

I live in the sunny South Florida, yes this is true. The Florida sun can be brutal during the summer and it just makes you want to stay indoors. After a while, this becomes comfortable. A short while after that, it becomes a routine until you realize your whole month has come and gone. Instead of taking that weekend trip to campgrounds, you binge watch 3 seasons on Netflix and wake up Monday morning ready for work. If you feel what I'm saying then you can understand the sense of Summer Blues I'm taking about. The sense of a beautiful day wasted. The meaningless longing of the promised mental break.

The biggest question now is: how do I stop it? How do you get out of this mental fart of the mundane while the world is tell you to enjoy the outdoors? Easy. Just take a stroll. Make a list of 5 simple things to do outdoors while the weather is good. When you go out to take your trash or check your mail, take a few extra steps down the street. Observe what nature and weather is like around you. I did it a few days and I felt accomplished. On my way home from work the other day, I stopped at a state preserve nature walk. I totally didn't have on the right shoes and outfit, but I felt good after. Best part? It was after 5 o'clock so it wasn't hot as balls. Warm and a bit muggy, yes, but not gross, unhappy hot where you can't stand to look at anybody.

Still even with these small wins, as a parent I don't feel like I do enough for my kids during the summer. In two months, I've visited the beach with them once, which is about the most cheap, sunny activity I can think of. As kids, being out of school is the most fabulous feeling by far (apart from visiting Disney). But the memory they'll probably enjoy just as much, is when I sat with them outside and ate ice cream. It was a small kick of serotonin for me too.

Why can't we get that last day of school feeling back?

It was such a happy and sad feeling. You got to say bye to friends that you hoped got lumped in your new class the next school year. You'd geek out over your crushes and wondered if you'd finally blossom and break their hearts the following year. You'd spend that first week of summer vacation sleeping in and doing nothing 'til your parents make you start doing stuff around the house and it'll feeling like the days will last forever.

Where's that joy? Let's go find it.