The Ultimate Summer Survival Guide: Plan your summer
Part one: Coming from a woman with Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, summer tips for everything, cooling down, fun things, depression tips, etc.
Writing a summer series feels a little funny to me. I mentioned before in a brief sentence that I am struggling with Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder. What others have in the cold, dark winter months, I struggle with in the bright, hot summer.
So this series is also an accountable moment for me. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail, but in 2024, I had the worst seasonal depression I have ever had; it developed into a general depression phase lingering even past the summer into my favourite time of the year, autumn. It took a long time to get out of, but when I wanted to look for some tips (Especially for this when it was so horrible), I only found seasonal depression tips for winter. So, this guide is for everyone! Even the ones who love summer.
I am being honest with you, I am starting this series late, since I was anxious about it for a long time. But I don’t want imposter syndrome and my anxiety to win, so here we go!
This series will be split up into different parts that all have a different theme. Today, we start with: Plan your summer.
Planning for summer is a fun thing for most people; for me, it’s an essential that can help me.
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1. Summer theme
A fun thing I love to do is pick a theme for the summer. This can be anything you want it to be. Even if it’s a ‘goal’ theme, it should fit with how you envision your summer.
Some examples could be:
Cozy social summer, cozy gatherings
Outdoor time
Tropical summer
Mermaid summer
The Ocean’s dream
Countryside summer
Mediterranean summer
Summer camping
The summer of backyard gatherings
There are so many depending on what you want from this summer, maybe you plan to read your TBR outside, so it would be a reading summer. Or you want to spend more time with friends & family with BBQs or an outdoor plan.
Everyone is different, and I love to see you all getting creative with the way you spend your summer.
My theme for this year is: Summerween.
This is the one I wanted to have for two years, and I always miss autumn the most in summer. I am a huge Halloween girl; it could be all year round. So, this year I want to bring it into my summer.
And during my two-week vacation in Spain, I plan this year to spend more time in the evening outside. Since I don’t cope well in the heat because of my chronic illness, and the reversed seasonal depression. I live for the evenings!
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2. Bucket list
This has existed for a long time, and the confession I have to make is that I never did a bucket list; I was more focused on goals. But a list with fun things you want to do? Sounds lovely.
This year, I made one for myself with the theme of my year, since it’s something I love to see. It seems lovely to finally have a list with just fun things you do.
There are so many things that can be done in summer, especially if you don’t struggle too much with the heat. For every interest, there is something to do. I challenged myself and made a quick one in digital design, plus the one in my notes app, where I keep adding things to that are realistic to me.
For anyone reading this who also has a hard time in summer, make your bucket list realistic to what you can do. Writing things on it, you know, isn’t for you, or something highly likely not to be archived will weigh you down.
My family and I do a lot of BBQ’s in the summer, it’s something normal for us. In my country, the moment the sun is out, people take out the grill, and it stays out till autumn.
In a later post, I gathered a lot of things you can do in summer, which you can add to your bucket list, but it’s also fun to get some inspiration from others. And I say inspiration since taking other people’s bucket lists and copying them, even if you are not sure you even like them, just because they have a few things that everyone does on….it doesn’t help you.
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3. Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder planning
As I mentioned at the beginning, people who struggle with this need to plan their summer a bit differently and more deeply. For that, take out a piece of paper or just your notes app. Here are some questions:
What do you struggle with the most?
What can you do?
What is your safety/support plan?
I will do a post about this specific topic later in the series with more tips and tricks that helped me. Since I struggled with this for a long time, but 2024 took the hit, which changed my entire perspective, and since I don’t want it to be that bad again, I have a few different things I did and do.
But a plan is important, and also to understand what you are struggling with the most, so you can plan around it. Everything to make your life easier will be the best thing you can do for yourself.
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If my writing brings you a little calm in your day, you can support me with a small coffee☕️
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4. Get everything done you need to enjoy your summer
Of course, you can’t get all responsibilities away just to have a summer break. That is an obvious one, especially with work, but maybe you have some personal or projects in general you can finish till then.
For me, for example, I wanted to finish a writing project till I go on vacation next month. Maybe if I finish it, I can read it on vacation to edit it, or I will do it afterward. This is up to me. This summer, I plan to be a bit more loose since pressure makes it worse.
You, too, might have a project you could finish before you have your time.
Or maybe it’s shopping for a trip.
It can even be preparations; everyone has a different life and phases, so this is really something unique for everyone. It could also just be finishing the idea. Whatever comes to mind.
For me, it’s heavily on the planning, having my lists ready (I talk later about them in another post), and the plan to finish my project, plus a big secret thing I want to start now.
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Summer will be rough for me, but I am fighting for a lovely mindset. I also don’t write this for attention. I just want people who might feel the same to feel heard, and to give my tips and ideas for summer, even if you don’t struggle with this.
I’d love to read your summer plans and ideas if you have some to share. It’s always lovely to see and read what people plan for a fun time!
xx
Lena
