Summer has a way of promising rest while delivering a fuller calendar. Here are five things I’ve been trying — or trying to try — that have actually helped me slow down a little.
1. Eat One Meal a Week Outside
Not a picnic with planning involved. Just carry your plate to the porch, the backyard, the stoop. Something changes when you eat outside. You notice the light. You hear birds. You chew slower, I think, because there’s nothing to stare at but the ordinary world. It turns a sandwich into something worth remembering.
2. Keep a Paper Notepad by the Chair Where You Read
I don’t mean for productivity. I mean for the thought that surfaces when you’re reading and suddenly you remember something — a person you should call, a question you’ve been carrying, a line worth copying down. A notepad gives that thought somewhere to land without pulling you into a screen. It’s a small mercy.
3. Take One Walk Without Headphones
Just once this week. No podcast, no music, no audiobook — however good they are. Let the walk be nothing but the walk. Notice what you would have missed. I find it uncomfortable for the first five minutes and genuinely restorative by the end.
4. Write a Letter — Even a Short One
Not an email. An actual letter, or even a handwritten card. There is someone in your life who would be startled and moved to receive one. The writing of it will do something to you, too. You have to think differently when you write by hand. More slowly. More carefully. Summer feels like the right season for it.
5. Let One Evening Have No Agenda
No show to finish, no errand to plan, no project to chip away at. This is the hardest one for me. But occasionally I manage it — I sit on the porch as the light goes gold, and I do essentially nothing — and I remember that I am a person, not a schedule. That’s worth protecting.
None of these cost anything. Most take less than an hour. The obstacle is usually just the habit of busyness, which summer doesn’t automatically cure. But it does offer the opening, if we’re paying attention.