A Seasonal Guide to Summer Self Care

Summer tends to be a busy season for folks living close to the earth. That busyness is even more of reason to practice a regular self-care routine.

The gardening and food preservation work, entertaining kids on the summer break, and more all require us to have our energy stores at maximum level. Keep your self running well and happily with an easy to maintain self-care plan.

These fun and easy summer self care ideas will help you not only care for yourself but also immerse yourself in the amazing and special things the summer months have to offer.

Summer Activities

Often when we think of self-care ideas, we come to things like massages, manicures, etc. There’s nothing wrong with those kinds of things – in fact, they’re downright incredible and great things to keep in our routines but here we try to make sure that our self-care tips also honor the natural rhythm of the seasons.

Be sure to incorporate new self-care activities that include the earth alongside your skincare routine and yoga class.

Stay Connected

When things get busy we all tend to stay focused on our to-do list. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but it does occasionally mean we forget to reach out to loved ones.

Send some summer postcards, even if you don’t go anywhere but your backyard. These postcards, this act of sitting down to handwrite some mail helps us slow down, connect with ourselves, and share our lives with people we love.

In this day and age of social media, emails, and instant messaging the act of putting pen to paper and mailing something speaks volumes. It’s a good way to take care of ourselves at the same time we are passing on joy and love to someone else far away.

It’s also a perfect way to disconnect from social media and screens in general to give us some tech-free time that can have positive impact on our mental health.

Go On a Picnic

We as a society have moved away from the picnic but there’s a lot to be said for having one (or several). Picnics get us outside in the fresh air, hopefully disconnect us from our phones, and allow us to connect with loved ones over food. Make time for them and keep it simple.

Do it alone too – do it on your lunch break by sitting at a picnic table at a nearby park. This is an effective way to get outside and bring down stress levels during the hustle and bustle of work days and modern life in general. Take a good book along with you and truly allow yourself to sink into your break without feeling any guilt.

Pack a simple meal with fresh, seasonal food. Just some finger foods is great. A simple blanket or sheet to sit on and something to drink completes the picnic set-up. Use it as an excuse to spend a couple of hours of intense quality time with those most important loved ones.

Eat the Seasonal Food

The summer season provides an abundance of choice in fresh foods from which we can and should indulge. Eat them often and allow your body to soak up the good nutrition of the season.

Keep it easy and cool by eating simple plates. Slice raw vegetables and eat them with cheese and crackers. Make smoothies with the fruits. There’s no need for big or complicated meals during this season, let the fresh flavor be the star. Allow yourself to cook outside when possible.

Hit the local farmer’s market and look for new foods to try and experiment with – get to know the farmers and learn tips for using the fresh produce from their land.

Not only are these meals delicious, they’re healthy too. It’s the kind of eating that has a ton of health benefits but is also easy to incorporate into the daily routine without a ton of pressure or overwhelm.

Eating healthy fresh fruits and vegetables are the ultimate and easy self care strategy because they fuel our bodies and minds in the thing we must do multiple times a day, every single day.

Sit by a Campfire

Whether actually camping or using some kind of fire pit in the backyard, sit by a campfire. Relax with a mug of something delightful, roast some marshmallows, and enjoy some good company. Watch the stars and feel the warmth of the fire.

Obviously keep this activity safe and responsible to prevent starting any kind of forest fire.

This is a very simple exercise but one that never fails to be soothing. It allows us to get away from all our modern gadgets and for a just a little bit connect with our more feral ancestors or at the very least our childhood.

Keep Cool

Obviously this is a season of warmer weather, if not downright sweltering, it’s incredibly important to find ways to keep cool.

This can mean sitting in air conditioning when necessary, it is important to stay safe in the most extreme temperatures and be aware of the physical need to keep the body from overheating.

However, air conditioning doesn’t have to be the only answer. We can keep cool and stay connected to nature at the same time by swimming in a mountain lake, for example.

Take advantage of the longer days by sitting outside as the sun sets in the cool evenings with an iced tea. Drink your morning coffee outside in the cool morning air before the heat of the day sets in.

The heat has a way of making everyone cranky at some point or another. Defeat that by caring for yourself and finding time and ways to stay cool.

Stay Hydrated

Keeping the body hydrated is always important for physical health. Even more so, in the hot days of summer.

Make healthy, delicious drinks from scratch and skip the sugar-laden, artificially colored drinks that also generally quite expensive.

Finally iced tea that you won’t forget in the other room! These recipes give show you how to use what you have to craft teas with the flavor and healing benefits you need. Get my Guide to Iced Tea to help you get creative and stay refreshed!

Instead make refreshing herbal drinks, fruit smoothies, shrubs, and fermented drinks. These will keep you feeling satisfied and your body hydrated which will definitely help improve the overall mood of everyone.

Get into Nature

Summer is the perfect time to take long walks in nature. It doesn’t have to be some grand hike in a remote wilderness – though certainly can be if you have the time and inclination.

Simply enjoy some physical activity in the natural world – it can be a walk around the neighborhood, an easy hike in the local park, a several day camping trip, etc. Honestly whatever activity feels good to you.

There are so many different ways to enjoy the world and season around us and there is never one right way to do it – simply allow yourself some quiet time to connect with the earth while also absorbing some of that incredibly important Vitamin D from the earth.

Summer is a busy time for sure. That doesn’t mean it should be all work. Remember to take time to keep yourself rejuvenated and running well with these easy and summer self-care practices.

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