Convo Over Coffee: Adults Need A Summer Break Too

Hi there! It’s been a while since our last convo over coffee.

I took a little “summer break” from the blog and general life things in July after an intense few months of dealing with another lockdown, changing circumstances, adjusting routines, having to stay home more, and navigating online learning. Being so involved in my son’s schooling and playing the role of “teacher” for the better part of this year is not something I expected I would have to do. So when his term and academic year ended I felt like it was the end of the school year for me too and I was more than ready for a summer break!

I remember the excitement and joy of waking up on the first day of summer break when I was a kid because I loved the freedom of schedule-less days. Lazy mornings spent watching TV, sunny afternoons whiled away with naps and imaginative play, and warm evenings spent at the pool and hanging out with my family playing board games. Every summer we also traveled to India to see family and it was more or less the same routine there too. There is no rush to be anywhere or do anything. To me that’s what a summer break is all about — taking an actual break from our real life routines, to-do lists, and responsibilities to some extent.

But as an adult, it’s not so easy to take a summer break because adulting doesn’t stop for the summer like school does. My kids are ridiculously early risers; I am not. I am not a morning person and becoming a mom has not changed that fact about me at all. Not one bit haha! I’m lucky my husband is a morning person and willingly woke up early with the kids while I slept in a bit and relaxed a bit more than usual. I communicated to him that I felt mentally drained and I just needed a break from the pressures of constantly being on top of the kids’ schedules and doing the same thing every single day. In fact, the thought of sticking to rules and routines felt suffocating, so I just let go and did what I wanted whenever I wanted. This resulted in bingeing K-dramas (IYKYK!), eating lunch at weird hours, taking walks late into the night and just generally feeling carefree.

Another symptom of being on a summer break: lack of motivation and laziness. I was feeling this in a deep and desperate way, which I haven’t in a long time. I am generally the kind of person who likes to make plans and enjoys new projects, so the idea of doing nothing in a day usually bothers me. But not for these past few weeks. I was excited at the idea of not having a schedule to follow and deadlines to meet. I turned down some freelance work and projects because I knew my motivation levels were low and that would not be fair to the client — or myself. I genuinely wanted (and possibly needed) to de-stress and actively taking a break and slowing down has made a world of a difference to recharge my motivation.

Summer breaks are also about having fun and enjoying new experiences. While this summer has been spent in lockdown and going out wasn’t (and still isn’t) possible, I wanted to try something new and fun, so I decided to play around with content creation and try a few new things. I started creating more beauty-focused content for Instagram and I had a blast doing it. That’s also one of the reasons the blog fell to the wayside because content creation takes a lot of time and effort. I found myself filming and writing while my kips napped and editing content while on my daily walks. I found so much joy and freedom in creating content. I don’t think I would have been able to channel my creative energy to take these steps if I hadn’t switched off from other parts of my life.

And now I’m finally feeling ready to return from my so-called “summer break”. I feel just like I did when I was a kid at the end of summer: relaxed but also that I missed my regular life. I’m ready to go back to my old routines, schedules, projects, deadlines and, of course, dreaded early morning wake up with the kids, but it’s with a much-needed renewed energy and fresh perspective. And that’s why I say, just like our kids, we adults need a summer break too. You don’t have to leave home to make it happen (though I would do anything to be on a plane to anywhere right now with a glass of wine in hand), but do small things to reward yourself and relax.

I hope you’re enjoying summer in the best and safest way possible 🙂