SUMMER SUMMER SUMMER
It’s mid-summer session and I see students sorting out into three categories:
- Rush and crush as the weeks whiz by–but manageable;
- Hey, it’s summer and friends and swimming and sun–so hard to keep motivated, and
- I’ll never get everything done and it’s the end of the world!
If you’re in life-as-usual mode, good on you and carry on! If you’re in panic mode, check in with your support system–your counsellor, student services, your strategist. I’ll be blogging on that next week, but today, attend to the self care that is essential for making it through.
Today I’m looking out at the great summer weather and hearing from some of my students just how hard it is to hunker down and do what needs to be done, how easy it is to kick back and get into, “Yeah, I’ll do that tomorrow,” mode. Hey–it’s summer. You’re human.
It may surprise you, but the key to staying motivated is likely not giving yourself the big lecture. It’s pausing and checking out your self-care kit. (That goes for you panic-mongers, too.) Refreshing the self-care kit, here is a template for you to adapt to your particular summer.
Self-care Kit for Staying Motivated
- List your support team and identify who would be most useful to you–counselling, student support services, library, tutor, peer tutoring, study buddies, instructor, strategist.
- Schedule connection with the most relevant support.
- List what you really want to enjoy about summer.
- Schedule doing just that–you’re going to do it anyway, so you might as well enjoy rather than setting up a guilt trip.
- Schedule activity or commitment for right after summer fun. That makes it easier to take your joy and then get back to the serious stuff.
- The body is your friend: Eat well. Sleep well. Stretch, run, bike or . . . .
- Check your mental and spiritual hygiene stays.
- If it’s not already scheduled, build in getting outdoors each day.
- Put pictures of your reward and imagine enjoying that reward when you see the reminder.
- Build in reinforcers for attending to self-care.
- Build in reinforcers for academic time-on-task.
- Take 10 at the end of each day to review, endorse, and adapt the next day’s schedule..
The key is to have control over summer joys instead of them controlling you.
Let me know what works for you, what didn’t work, and what you added! [email protected] .
The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS, PLEASE DIAL 911.