I very much hope this will be a month free of hospitalizations and fractures — but you know what? To some extent, that will not be in my control.
Given this realization, I’m headed into the back half of 2025 in with a positive and flexible mindset. I’m looking forward to some fun that will probably come to fruition (visiting my parents/sister/niece Laura in PHL, seeing my college BFFs who are coming to south FL!) but holding it loosely. Every day has something to offer even if it doesn’t necessarily follow my envisioned blueprint. In the wise words of Jenny: Every Day Counts. Every month does too, even the crazy ones (ahem June).
(AND I will still plan and practice proactivity, because often things DO pan out and it’s great, and also because when chaos strikes those things are still incredibly helpful. For me, anyway.)
Let’s say goodbye to June, shall we?
- There was a lot of overwhelm, ending with an epiphany that I had to take something planned off my plate for the time being.
- There was a scary fracture that happened when Josh and I were ~800 miles away. (Thankfully G is doing so well, and she should heal fully. I think she forgets her cast is even there half the time.)
- There was a family vacation that looked good on paper but had a good bit of frustration (and therefore, maybe some disappointment as it didn’t live up to the trip I had envisioned.)
- Kids went to a mix of random camps and at least one kid has been struggling with a number of things. There was a lot of . . . emotional unrest as we left the school routines behind (and I had thought it would be such a good thing — so again, expectations vs reality here).
Positive Things:
- I read a lot of good books and enjoyed watching TV with Josh and the big kids (Murderbot, Ginny & Georgia, and the start of Stick)
- There were SOME great memories from our trip! Loved biking in the mountains especially and was so impressed that G was able to do it! (Luckily, the trip was pre fracture.)
- I loved the kids’ dance show — both kids were great and it’s such a high note to end the year on
- I have enjoyed more relaxed morning since camp drop-off is a full hour later than school
July Goals
I will ruminate on these later today!
OH, and I’m back in a Hobonichi. I think this may actually be my final planner swap for the year (into a Cousin Avec – July-Dec, I desperately needed to start over). Going back into these pages always feels like home!
18 Comments
June was a hard month for you. But is as generally the case you handled it with such grace. I wanted to say yesterday that I am so glad you recognized the 2025 BLP course was causing you stress AND released it for the year. I can many times do the former but not the latter and then my emotional well being suffers for it. I am inspired by the choice you made! Also, I just wanted to say that EVERY YEAR I have to remind myself that the transition from school to summer is so hard for the kids. I assume we’ll all be so happy to leave school days behind, and we are! But subconsciously we struggle with the lack of routine and the kids especially struggle with a string of random camps broken up by intense travel. It has take me 15 years to set more reasonable expectations and give us at least some of the grace needed to make the transition to summer less angsty. Just wanted to say that you are NOT alone and it’s probably going to be a yearly occurrence.
Thank you and yes it does feel better to have company in not happily sliding into summer life!!!
I have so many thoughts…
Since I moved to Michigan, I have this impending sense of doom starting at the beginning of summer because I know summer will end eventually and the weather will be shit again soon. It means that whenever I’m not outside “enjoying myself” I feel guilty BECAUSE IT WILL BE GONE SOON. I even got to the point where after June 21st (the longest day of the year) I started feeling sad because *summer is almost over (it’s not).* But. Summer is the worst time of year for my job (everyone wants their kid to have surgery in the summer). And it’s hot and there are bugs. Going for walks outside is markedly less fun than it is during every other season.
This year I am trying a reframe.
1) Fall is the best season in MI
2) The holidays are really nice and I enjoy them greatly
3) I can’t even go for nice walks with the dogs now because TOO FREAKING HOT (also deer flies). Soon, it will be better.
4) In the winter I will take a fun mini vacay by myself someplace with sun. This year… maybe Sedona? Tuscon (there’s this dude ranch there I want to go to)? Not sure yet, but I WILL PLAN SOMETHING — other suggestions highly welcome.
5) Trying to stop feeling guilty over vacations that cost a lot of $$
6) Trying to stop feeling guilty over not doing enough stuff with the dogs or boarding them while we are away.
It’s an adjustment of expectations and not thinking that if everything isn’t great over the summer that it will never be good again.
I hope that helps!
I love the reframe! I always know summer isn’t the best here but still get sucked into having higher expectations than I probably should.
And I am very good at #5 if you need inspiration.
Would love suggestions for warm sunny winter vacay options!
To be fair I’m most familiar with the Floridian ones since that’s the ‘easy button’ for us! LOVE Amelia Island (not always SUPER warm though it should be really nice by like March/April), Keys (love Hawk’s Cay), Vero (just so low key and nice), and lots of people love Sanibel/Captiva – we did like it but haven’t been for a while.
Then there’s always Costa Rica (Kae went ~2 years ago and the trip looked fantastic, but I think maybe you already went?), and for a real splurgey one Hawaii . . . (we are planning that for summer ’26)
I haven’t personally been but multiple people I know have been to Puerto Rico lately and it looks very similar to the things we loved about Costa Rica and seems wonderful in winter/spring months.
June was rough with G’s fracture/surgery and the other overwhelm! I did not travel for work in June but it was still a full month since we did a short local camping trip and I did a 1:1 trip to Chicago (which was fun but also incredibly exhausting and tested my patience!). July is going to be a whirlwind. We start off with going to my parents for the 4th and then I travel the next 3 weeks to Boston, NJ, and Chicago. So I am paying for not traveling this month. But I’m parlaying a Boston work trip into a fun trip to see 2 friends so I can’t complain about that. The calendar just doesn’t look great for my husband as there is lots of washi tape on it (I marked off travel days with washi tape).
I’m always ready for a planner swap around this time of year! I think I’ve found planner peace with the Day Designer daily for the school year but haven’t used it as much with the summer’s looser schedule. Maybe I’ll give myself permission to swap just for the summer next year! I keep my source of truth digitally, so the paper is more flexible…
I’m also super impressed by your book list! That’s such a fun way to keep track! I might have to borrow the idea.
I’m also ready for a fresh start in July! My June included a lot of viruses (including while traveling for work), work stress and overload, and a broken down car. I’m moving in to an Erin Condren Hourly Lifeplanner July 2025 start, along with a Petite Planner for daily planning, and I’m LOVING the change. July is still busy so I don’t expect a massive difference but I have a few days of leave next week, and will aim for a slightly slower pace at work, and some chill weekends with the kids.
ooh I used to use that hourly!! I hope you love it!
I think 2025 will be a year you remember for a long time. You’re due for some great things- maybe that’s coming up in the second half of the year.
Thanks for the shout out! Coincidentally I mentioned you and Laura in my post tomorrow.
awww thank you!!! Just saw it pop up, excited to read!
I am officially done with clinical year of fellowship!! The new fellows are here, I handed off my longgggg ID list, and am lying on my couch for the next week.
I cannot believe I’m done with 4 years of full time inpatient training! I was at a call schedule residency and omg the 28s broke my body. But then being on the pager 24/7 this year broke me in a different way
I’m so happy for you!!!!! What a milestone. I hope you get lots of rest and really celebrate!!!!!
I love when I read: July goals… oh those I’ll ruminate later. hahaha…… I will ruminate them too, sometimes takes me a month to ruminate on a monthly goal.
I love the mindset of being flexible and go along with what life brings on.
I haven’t seen the murderbot show yet, but I LOVED the books when I read them a few years ago. 10/10, highly recommend! They are available on the Libby app from the library and I loved them so much we bought the physical copies!
For the last few years I’ve also felt the need to start over with my planner in the summer. I’ve actually been using a Personal Planner that starts in June, and it’s perfect!