Welcome to the unofficial beginning of summer! After Memorial Day, parks and pools open, we plant our herbs and flowers and plan for a little more time off. Those of us who live in cold, snowy places especially look forward to the summer months. We picture ourselves relaxing on our back patios with cool drinks, inviting neighbors over for an informal barbecue and going to the beach or the mountains (with or without the family). We purposefully consider how we will recharge our batteries. I believe this intuition about how to spend the summer is a useful one. The summertime is the perfect time to build capacity for resilience and to cultivate what I call “work-life harmony,” both crucial for our well-being.

Opportunity for Change

What if you transformed the yearning for summer and the intuition to relax to a more conscious intention, or better yet, a plan to bump up your self-care routine? What if this opportunity for improved self-care in the summer could lead to improved resilience, work-life harmony, and overall well-being year round?

Of course, we know that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” approach to increased resilience and work-life harmony. We know that you will need to consider your own personality, your unique work and family situation, as well as other factors to design a plan for greater well-being. But the good news is that it is easier in the summer to take care of ourselves. We tend to have more daylight, warmer weather, and sometimes even shorter work hours, which enable us to begin to build some new habits. Then we can work to keep versions of these practices in place once the days get shorter, school is back in session, and the pace picks up. I invite you to view the summer as your opportunity to practice habits that can fuel you all year long.

Improving our relationships

Research suggests that the quality of our relationships is essential for well-being. Quantity doesn’t really matter. A few years ago I heard on NPR the concept of “refrigerator buddies”—who do you have in your life (outside of family) who can walk in your house and get something out of the refrigerator? For well-being, we need people whom we can be ourselves with and who are there for us emotionally and practically. How can you improve your relationships this summer?

You might set up a weekly get together with friends during summer months, when it is easier and more inviting to eat outdoors or to grill a simple dish. You might be able to eat outside on a patio or deck, so you don’t have to worry about the shape the house is in. Then you may find a way to carry this routine forward into the fall and winter months.

Increasing your exercise

Exercise is something we know is good for our minds and our bodies yet is often something we do not make the time for. With the longer daylight hours and increased warmth, how can you work to cultivate the exercise habit this summer?

For instance, if you and a friend begin to walk after dinner this summer, maybe you can switch to an evening yoga class or some other indoor exercise when the weather gets cooler.

Being in nature

We also know that being outdoors in nature increases our well-being. Studies show that being outside for even 20 minutes a day dramatically enhances happiness, decreases stress and improves immune functioning. Summer is your opportunity to get outside! How could you design this on purpose? For me, it’s often as simple as walking out to the picnic table on my back patio. There I can peacefully work while looking at flowers and listening to the frogs croak in the little pond my husband built several years ago.

I have always loved the song that goes, “Summertime and the living is easy . . . ” Work-life harmony and resilience can be developed this summer with a little conscious effort and attention.

Take a moment and share with us in the comments section below what habits you are cultivating this summer.

Go play, practice, create and enjoy this summer and reboot your own resilience and work-life harmony plan!