7 Tips for Your Best Summer Yet

Forget hot girl summer. What about healing girl summer? Slow girl summer? Vibrant girl summer? Happy girl summer? You get to claim what you want this season to be about - don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Summer is a wonderful time to adventure, explore, socialize, and find joy. It’s also a surprisingly challenging time to stick to routines and well-being practices. Travel plans and activities can disrupt your daily rituals and you may find yourself distracted from the goals you set for yourself at the beginning of the year. It’s important to strike a balance between flexibility when it comes to your routine, and outright throwing intentional well-being practices out the window.

I want you to have the best summer ever. I know that you can accomplish this with the right mindset and well-being practices, so you can nourish your body, mind, and soul.

1: Stay hydrated this summer

Hydration is always vital to maintain the health of cells and organs, improve mood, assist with digestion, and so much more. The summer sun and the activities you’ll likely get up to make staying hydrated even more important!

Being dehydrated can spoil a perfectly good day! I recommend using the same drinking vessel daily so you can monitor intake. You can also supplement with salt or electrolytes. Drinking water is the most obvious way to stay hydrated and you can also eat foods with high water content such as watermelon, cucumbers, and strawberries. Be sure your water to caffeine ratio is always in check by avoiding drinking excessive amounts of caffeinated beverages throughout the day.

2: Get enough sleep

You want to feel energized to create your best summer, not be dragging yourself through the day. Getting enough sleep helps you make decisions, sustain a good mood, feel more resilient in the face of a challenge, and perform better in your movement practice.

What is “enough” really? Most adults need at least 7 hours but it’s not just about hours if your sleep isn’t high quality and you’re not dropping into deeper sleep or you’re frequently waking. This is why I always encourage my clients to create a winddown practice at the end of the day, stick to a consistent bedtime and wake time, and keep electronics out of the room. Socializing in the sun may tempt you to stay up late and skip out on your sacred rest but you are in the driver’s seat here and can commit to practices to feel your best daily!

3: Eat nourishing foods

Want to have a summer full of happiness, adventure, and fun? You’re going to need to fuel up! Food is fuel and you need plenty of it daily. Don’t let your busy schedule or beach days throw off your meal routine - plan ahead!

Here are a few things I typically share with clients:

• Keep healthy snacks in the car, so you’re never on the go with nothing to eat
• Going on a trip or to a bachelorette? Dub someone your “meal buddy” and hold each other accountable to eating enough each day.
• If you’re traveling somewhere new, look ahead at local grocery stores or restaurants that have the type of food that you already know you love.

Beware! Summertime is primetime for diet culture. Now is a great time to mute or unfollow accounts that share ideas on losing weight or skipping meals. Be cautious when it comes to consuming nutrition advice from random people on social media (ahem “What I eat in a day” is a no from me) and instead look for inspiration for meals that look yummy and things you want to try. The summer can be an amazing time to try out locally grown fruits and vegetables and to host extravagant picnics with friends. Enjoy!

4: Move your body in ways that feel good

Oftentimes, my clients come to me with a rigid idea of what movement needs to be like. They are counting their steps and calories, often feel guilty or pressured to perform and they wonder why they don’t like it. We work together on creating more joyful movement practices and focusing on how they want to feel in their bodies, versus what they want their bodies to look like.

The summer is an excellent time to experiment with new movement practices and find activities that bring you joy! Grab friends or go solo for beach yoga, swimming, and hiking. Movement is about so much more than building strength and endurance or getting toned. Movement is about connecting more deeply to yourself. When you are more in tune with your body, you become more attentive to your emotional state and your needs, and you’re able to nurture yourself so you can be your best.

Movement practices also help you build relationships. I’ve made countless friends through yoga, running groups, and hiking trips. Those relationships are extra special because we get to experience physical efforts together, which often leads to laughing, crying, and sharing about our lives.

5: Don’t skip self care

Self care is a non-negotiable when it comes to managing anxiety, sustaining self confidence, and creating your best summer yet. Yet, when things get hectic, self care is the first thing to drop for busy women. I know you’ve already had times in your life where you’ve tried to pour from an empty cup by taking care of everyone around you before even thinking about yourself. You are in a new era now!

One theme I see through the growth process for all of my clients is that, through our work together, they become lighter. The light literally comes back into their eyes, they have a certain glow when they speak about their progress, and they move through the world with confidence. Let me tell you, they don’t get there by skipping self care. They get there by setting boundaries, journaling their thoughts, finding a morning routine they love, tuning in to their bodies to hear what they need, and so on.

Decide what you want to commit to and stick to it! Here are some ideas:

• Meditate 4 - 7 times/week
• Journal your thoughts when you are feeling anxious or low
• Practice mindful mornings
• Double down on your skincare routine (DIY face masks anyone?)
• Read a juicy fiction book
• Make yourself a soulful summer playlist
• Try deep breathing exercises
• Spend time in nature such as going for a hike or visiting the beach

6: Create meaningful opportunities to connect with friends and family

It’s time to prioritize fun, quality time with the people we love! When I think about summer, I think about whiling away hours with friends on a road trip and playing water volleyball with my extended family at our annual reunion. What gets you excited? Perhaps beach trips, long dinners outside, or adventures in the mountains?

Maintaining healthy relationships is fundamental to our well-being and personal evolution and this summer I invite you to maximize your relationships through presence! It can be challenging to see everyone and do absolutely everything during the summer. The reality is that many of your weekends are already scheduled and you’ve likely already declined invitations - it’s impossible to do it all! Therefore, it becomes all the more important to be fully present when you are with loved ones. Plan a meaningful activity, forget about your phone, and be where your feet are - with the people you love!

7: Allow yourself the freedom to explore and experiment

Summer is an opportunity to look forward to the second half of the year and commit to what you want to accomplish and how you want to show up. Consider what you’d like to feel, have, or become, and why this matters to you. My advice? Don’t take yourself and your every move so seriously. You are magnetic when you allow yourself the freedom to create, play, dream, not know the answer, and take chances on yourself.

Here are some playful questions to explore:

• What do I want to become by the end of 2023?
• What new activity will I try (and not care about how good I am at it!)?
• Who will I welcome deeper into my life?
• What can I create for myself and my community?
• Where could I let go and enjoy where I’m currently trying to control?
• How will I remind myself to have fun in the process?

A final note

My biggest wish for you is that you feel motivated to take care of yourself this summer. I shared seven tips to get you started but you are the one who gets to decide what you execute on! Save this blog, jot down the seven tips in your journal, and refer back whenever you need.

Are you a woman stepping into her next era? Don’t miss these opportunities just for you: Check out my FREE masterclass, a 5 step strategy that will help you shift from anxious & overwhelmed to aligned & purposeful living! Make sure you get on the waitlist for my signature group coaching program, Nourish!