What I’m Prioritizing This Summer to Feel More Alive

What if feeling more alive this summer isn't about doing less—but about paying closer attention to what nourishes you?

As I planned out a very full summer, I found myself thinking about a question that feels increasingly important: What actually helps me feel most like myself?

In this more personal episode, I'm sharing some of the things I'm intentionally prioritizing this season—not because life is calm or uncomplicated, but because I've learned that waiting for the perfect season to feel alive is a losing strategy.

We talk about beauty, connection, meaningful rituals, and the small things many women dismiss as "extra" that may be far more essential than we realize.

If you've been moving through life feeling a little emotionally undernourished, this conversation may invite you to reconsider what belongs on your priority list this summer.

Because sometimes flourishing begins with paying attention to what brings you back to yourself. 

If you're longing for a more meaningful and restorative summer, I'd love to invite you to explore The Summer Sanctuary. Learn more here

If you're longing for a summer that feels more spacious, supported, and more like yourself again, I'm opening a small number of private mentorship spots this season through The Summer Sanctuary. You can learn more here.

RESOURCES & LINKS

• Take the quiz: Are You a Gifted Woman?
• Sign up to receive my Sanctuary Letters
• Book a complimentary Flourishing Call if you're curious about working together
• Follow me on Instagram: @dr.andrealein
• Learn more: andrealein.com

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Transcript

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One of the things I've been thinking about a lot lately is how many women live emotionally undernourished lives while telling themselves beauty is extra, extra time, extra money, extra energy, something indulgent or unnecessary. But the older I get, the more I think beauty is actually part of how human beings stay connected to themselves: music, nature, beautiful spaces, fresh flowers, meaningful conversation, clothing that feels like you, good food. These things are not frivolous. They are part of what makes life feel alive. And this summer, I've been thinking really intentionally about the kinds of things I personally want to prioritize, not because my life is perfectly calm, but because I want to feel more present and more fully myself inside of it. Welcome to the Power to Flourish podcast, where science meets the art of a beautiful life. I'm Dr. Andrea Lyme, positive psychologist, giftedness expert and coach, and modern-day spiritual godmother to brilliant, deep-feeling women. This isn't just another self-help podcast, it's a sanctuary, a sacred space to come back to yourself. Each week we'll explore the emotional experience of gifted, sensitive women and what it means to live a life that feels as beautiful as it may look. Because flourishing isn't a luxury. It's your birthright, and your life is waiting. This is the Power to Flourish Podcast. So today's episode is going to be a little more personal and conversational. Last week, we talked about how to create a summer that actually restores you. Like what is the mindset that is required? How do we approach that with intentionality? And specifically, how restoration just doesn't happen accidentally anymore, especially in today's modern world. We have to intentionally create space for the things that nourish us. And so as I've been thinking about this summer, it probably will not surprise you that I realize that a huge part of restoration for me is actually beauty. And just to be clear, if you have not listened to some of my previous episodes when I talk about beauty, I just have to say this here again. You know, the beauty influencers or the crazy beauty standards we have in our culture. Like I'm not talking about beauty in that way. I mean beauty in like the old school definition, right? In the sense of what makes life feel rich and meaningful and sensory and emotionally alive. And I would add deeply human. That is what I mean when I'm talking about beauty. And yes, are there aesthetic visual aspects of that? Absolutely. And I'm going to share some of those later in this episode. But honestly, I think many thoughtful, capable women are starving for that without fully realizing it. Our lives become very efficient and very responsible and, you know, optimized and productive, but they're just not always deeply nourishing. So I'm going to talk to you today about my summer and what I have been thinking about as I plan my summer. And what's funny, well, I don't know if it's funny, but it's the fact that my summer this year is not actually slow at all. And, you know, I don't have small children at home. So that definitely makes my summer look different than it did when I had a small child at home or when I was taking care of lots of children in my previous career. So today it's a very different kind of life that I live. And I'm very aware of that. And that you may be listening to this. Maybe you don't have kids, maybe you have five kids, or maybe they're teenagers about to go off to college, right? Everyone is in a different stage of life. But I think, regardless of what the specifics are around children or no children, most women I know these days have very full lives. So my summer is looking like it's going to be pretty full. I, as I record this right now, it is the end of May. And I just traveled over Memorial Day weekend. And actually, two weekends before that, I traveled with some friends and we had a beach weekend. So in the month of May, I've already had two weekend trips that I had to travel a good chunk of time to get. You know, it was, it was more than a couple hours away. And between now and September, I have a huge amount of travel planned. Now, again, I am grateful that I have a life, uh, the resources, the time, the physical health to do the amount of travel that I'm gonna be doing. And, you know, if I'm honest, like in earlier phases of my life, I was not traveling this much. So it's just a different season. But I currently have plans to go back to Hawaii to visit my daughter and granddaughter again, of course. And then I have multiple trips up to Massachusetts. I am currently in North Carolina. This is where I live. Like home base is North Carolina, but we used to live in Massachusetts. And so we have family, we have some friends still up there, and we actually have like a like a country home in Massachusetts. So I will be going up there and we always drive because we have a dog, and so it is a full day of travel to get back and forth from Massachusetts, and I will be going more than once. I have several girls' weekends planned or in the process of being planned. Again, I am not complaining. I'm not complaining about any of these things. They are all blessings, and then I have multiple family trips. So, like many of you, the summer is a time of, you know, connecting and seeing people and traveling. So there's all of that. And then my husband and I have been talking about planning an anniversary trip overseas, uh, probably in September, because that's when our anniversary is, and my birthday's in September. So that's, I mean, it's I guess it's still technically summer. Um, but that's kind of going into the ball. So all of that to say, I have multiple trips planned every month in summer. And honestly, as I've been thinking about it and like trying to plan and coordinate with all the different people in my life for all of these trips, and just like keeping it straight in my own head and figuring out like how I'm going to manage getting just all over the place. It's it can make me feel a little exhausted before I even start, if I'm being really, really honest. It's exhausting mentally, even just planning it all out sometimes. Do you do you feel that sometimes? So that's the honest truth. And I'm really excited about it because of course I do love traveling. And I like the travel is not just like I'm going to go visit pretty places. All the travel really is around connecting with people. Yes, there's pretty places involved in that, but it's really about connection with people. So it's all really, really good stuff. But I am someone who really feels the disruption of routines, like especially physically. And I don't know if you're like that, but I have just learned that as much as I love travel and novelty and being in new different places, I am such a routine girly and it just messes with me when I'm traveling so much. So when I am home in North Carolina, I have my rhythms that really, really support me, right? I have my workout classes. I like going, you know, multiple times a week. And then on top of that, I will sprinkle in, you know, like long walks. If it's really, really hot, like to be like now that I'm being really realistic in my head, it's like, you know, 96 degrees with humidity in North Carolina in July. I'm probably not going outside for long walks, which is why I now I bought one of those, um, those like walking pads. I I've literally been thinking about doing it for years, and I don't know why it took me so freaking long, but I do have one of those now because I told my husband, it's not, I used to think I needed that when I lived in Massachusetts because half the year was winter, and you literally, you know, it was hard to go outside and go for a walk when there's snow and ice on the ground. And we don't get that here in North Carolina, but the opposite is true here. It's like so hot in the summer. So, all of that to say, I have things set up for me to get my physical routines in place. And that is like has to be, I mean, I I would say it's one of the top priorities for me to support me, like holistically. I just am so much better when I have those things dialed in. And I have, you know, other systems in place that just help me feel grounded in my body and mind that are easier to do when I'm home. Like I have all the things that I need in my home, in my room, in my bathroom, all my vitamins, all my supplements, all my cooking things that I use to make, you know, and things in the pantry. Like the things that we take for granted, I know now, like when I'm traveling, I don't, I don't necessarily have those things. And anyone who has to travel all the time for work, they know it's so, it's so challenging to just take care of yourself sometimes when you got to travel all the time. So all of that to say, when I travel constantly, I absolutely notice a difference. So, one of the things I have been thinking about as I plan out my summer is how do I create a life day to day that still feels nourishing and alive inside this very full season, because this summer is going to feel full. I can look at the calendar and see already that it's gonna be very full. And I am sure that it is very likely that you feel the same way for whatever the things are on your calendar. If you have kids, if there's camps, you're juggling work, travel, all the things, right? It we have just we can get these full calendars. And that's not bad. Having a flourishing life doesn't mean we just cut everything out of the calendar. Sometimes we do have to cut some things out, but that is not always the path to a flourishing life. We have seasons that are more full than others. And this summer, I think, is going to be quite full for me. And I think a lot of women keep waiting for life to become less demanding, less full before they allow themselves to feel alive or they feel like they just they won't be able to be present and feel alive or feel nourished or feel rested because they're waiting for this like future fantasy day where life will be less demanding. I'm just telling you right now, after living on this planet for almost 50 years, if you're younger than that, I wish I could tell you that it gets less demanding. It can during certain seasons, and also we can learn to make different choices, but life is just, you know, it's life. So for many of us, that day never really arrives. And we're just always waiting. We're waiting. And I don't want you to do that. So one thing I've realized about myself is that I actually feel very connected to myself in the summer, particularly. Now, that may not be you, and I was reflecting a little bit about like why that might be. I think summer brings out like one of the most natural versions of me. I grew up in Virginia Beach. So for me, summer has like a very particular feel that I took for granted because I grew up at the beach. And so for again, for me, I'm very feminine. Like if you've ever seen me, like in my happy, happiest moments where I feel most like myself, I'm probably barefoot or wearing, I don't know, like Birkin socks or something and a very flowy dress. Like, I do not want to be bothered. Please do not make me wear anything structured or like jeans or anything. I've I've always been like this, like since I've been a little girl. So this is me. When I moved to Massachusetts, can I tell you this? I didn't even know this. I had a closet full, full of sundresses because that's like, again, you grew up in the South, you live in the South, I spent decades living in the South. I had just collected so many sundresses. That's just what I wore every day. And then I moved up north and I had like, it felt like I had 25 days to wear them. I, oh my gosh, it was so cold. And I was like, okay. So I kept a bunch of them, thinking, you know, maybe one day I'll wear them. But honestly, every summer it was so sad. I would stare at all these dresses that I loved in my closet, and I like never got to get through them all because it we just didn't have enough warm enough days to wear them. So anyway, all of that to say, okay, now I'm back in North Carolina. It gets hot. And we have, you know, spring starts early, summer blends into fall. Like it doesn't really get cold until like, I don't know, November. Like we just have a very long, drawn-out, warmer season. So I get to be me and all my girliness and wearing all my dresses and skirts and flowy things. Um, I'm a happy camper. And of course, when I go to Hawaii, it's like that on steroids because I don't know. Being in Hawaii, everyone is so relaxed and I don't know. It's just there is nothing stuffy or formal or dressed up about Hawaii. It's great if you're someone like me. At this point in my life, I'm just like, I do not have time to be stuffy. I don't have time to pretend I'm someone other than who I am. So this is me. I feel like summer brings out this like natural, like very authentic version of me. I love opening the windows. It's just like that fresh air, it's great. You know, bringing in fresh flowers, being outside, walking in the grass barefoot. Literally, these are my favorite things to do. And they don't cost any money. Right. I love, like, give me a slower evening where I'm on the back deck, like staring at the stars because I'm out in nature and there's no light pollution where I am. Uh, music, playing in the background, going to outdoor concerts, like actually what my husband and I love doing, again, in the in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, the Boston Symphony comes to Tanglewood. That's the home of the Boston Symphony in the summer. And so we're so spoiled. You guys, we're, I'm so spoiled. I've literally spent the last, oh gosh, starting in 2008. That was the first time I went, 2008. So a lot of years spending my summers at Tanglewood, picnic in the grass, so, so lovely, listening to like the most talented musicians play classical music. Of course, they also have popular artists, but I mean, I grew up playing classical music on the piano, so I just love it. My husband and I could do this every night in the summertime. So I'm painting this picture of me, right? Like my ideal summer day, honestly, this is me, Dr. Andrea, like in her most real, real form, is like wearing a long flowy dress, barely wearing shoes, eating beautiful food, like fresh food from the farmer's market, being outside, hopefully, preferably with no like mosquitoes biting me, you know, reading something, like getting lost in a book and talking to people I love. This is it. This is it. That's the picture. Now, you your picture may look very different. And you may say, I cannot stand the summer. I'm a winter person. Give me Minnesota, you know, any day over the summer. I get it. I totally get it. So I'm just telling you about how I think about the summer. You get a little picture of it. And I think part of what I've realized over time is that all of these things, these things that I just listed, uh, and I'm being sort of, you know, silly about it, but I'm I'm sharing them with you. I'm sharing the specific things to give you examples, like grounded examples, because they're not separate from my well-being practices. Like they are critical for me to feel well. They're not just silly additional things. This is what makes me feel full and alive and authentically me. I feel great when I'm when I'm living this way. They're they're just how do I say it? They're just like a huge part of how I personally experience aliveness. And I think so many of us, women in particular, have been conditioned to think that all these things, this beauty that I'm talking about, is frivolous. Like it's optional. Or that women who incorporate these things into their lives are like, I don't know, we judge them, right? Or we can. But anyway, back to back to the summer thing and the beauty thing. These things are not extra. And at this point in my life, they are not the things that I prioritize only after all the important things are handled. That is not how I think of them at all. In fact, I have literally flipped the script for myself on this. I did think about it, like probably, you know, earlier in my life, for sure. But I I would say also, like, I think I've just been the kind of person where even when I had no money, like literally like no money, you guys, I was a very, very poor graduate student with a child by living on my own. You know, I was a full-time student. So you can just imagine how much money I was not making. And I found ways to bring beauty into my life, into my home. I did not have a lot of money to spend on anything. And yet I I kind of prided myself on being able to, like on a really, you know, shoestring budget, bring beauty into my home and into my life. Because I think it matters that much, or at least it matters that much to me. But I don't think it's just me, because I, as a psychologist, know our environment matters. Our atmosphere matters. Light matters, music matters. This all matters. The way your home feels to you, it matters. Whether there's clutter or not, that matters. What you put on and you wear, like I know I'm doing a podcast right now, but if you were to see the video and maybe I'll do a little clip, I'm wearing an outfit that I actually, this is a really cute two-piece set, and it has a really flowy ruffle on the bottom skirt, and it's a kind of like a crop top, and it's something I don't normally wear in North Carolina. I bought it in Hawaii. It's very, you know, Hawaii style, but I just decided today because it's very hot, and I was like, I'm just gonna wear this cute little two-piece set, and I love it. It makes me feel, again, like myself. Do I need to wear it today? No. Am I going anywhere special today? Absolutely not. I'm I'm right now in the basement of my home recording this podcast, you know? Like, where am I going today wearing this outfit? But what you wear matters. And it's not because I'm trying to impress anyone. I would hope that what you put on your body and how you design your home and the music you play and, you know, whatever environmental things you choose, it I hope it's not to impress anyone. I hope that what drives that action to make those places beautiful is because like you just enjoy it. That's why I do it. It brings me joy and it also brings peace and calm to my mind as well. So that is a real thing. Because as human beings, like we are humans having this human experience in the world. We're sensory creatures. We have senses for a reason. So when we act like we don't need to, you know, like pay attention to it, well, that's just silly. It's it's absolutely silly. We are affected by beauty or the absence of it constantly, whether we acknowledge it or realize it or not. So let me run down for you really quickly some things that I am prioritizing this summer. First, as I've already talked to you about with all the travel, one of the top things I am prioritizing this summer is connection and meaningful quality time with people that matter to me. That doesn't mean I get to see everyone, because you know, there are only so many weekends in the in the summer, but a huge priority for me this summer is connection. A lot of my travel is completely centered around relationships and meaningful places. Like I said, these are places that I enjoy usually, but it's really about the relationships. So as I mentioned earlier, we spent a lot of time in the Berkshires during the summer. It's where my husband grew up. It's where we met actually. We actually met at Tanglewood. So 4th of July, James Taylor plays live. That's literally where we met. So every summer we do this, it's almost like our anniversary, even though our actual anniversary is in September. Like James. Taylor plays, we get up and dance to our song, How Sweet It Is. Like, this is what we do every year. It's an annual tradition in our household. And there's just something really emotionally meaningful to me about being there because we met at a James Taylor concert at Tanglewood. And so we're there with family who introduced us, like we're there with friends. We, we packed like these beautiful, outrageous. I mean, if you've if you've never been to Tanglewood in the summer or seen pictures, it's great. But like we've got candelabras and beautiful bouquets, and it's just a fun time. And it's a beautiful, like high-touch kind of picnic. Maybe not like your typical uh summer picnic with, you know, paper plates. Like there are no paper plates here. We got real dishes and silver vases. That's what we're doing here. Anyway, it is beautiful. The pace is slower. We're spending so much time outside. We're reconnecting with some of our friends that we've known for many years. A few of them still live in the area. And then certainly like family and all the memories there. So that's huge. I'm also, of course, really excited to spend more time with my granddaughter this summer. You just can't get enough time as a grandma with your grandkid. Like there's never, there's never too much time. And so all of that, like honestly, for me, that connection with her, with my girlfriends, who like some of them, because we live like so far apart from each other now, I get to see them maybe once a year, you know, and some people I didn't get to see last summer. So now it's been like longer than a year, and I just miss them. So I am really, really, really prioritizing so much of that this summer. And I know I like feel alive thinking about it. And I feel very alive when I'm present with them because I am like I'm present. It's it's beautiful. And I love being fully present with people I love and care about. The second thing I am prioritizing this summer is my intellectual and creative life. Now, again, I these are all things I kind of try to prioritize all year, but I am sharing it with you because like I'm thinking very intentionally about how I'm going to do this for the summer. Like, what does it look like to prioritize my intellectual and creative life this summer? Well, one of them is reading. So I've actually been reading more lately, like just this past month. I carved out way more time than I normally do. And I just got through a couple books and it was the best. So now I have this like feedback loop because it was so positive for me. I'm like, ooh, I want to read more. I want to carve out more time for that. So it's something, again, that I try to do in general, but I want to up the ante, so to speak, this summer. And I personally love nonfiction. I know, I mean, I might be a little weird. I know there are so many good fiction books out there that people are always sharing them, but I tend to gravitate towards more nor nonfiction. And I used to judge myself for that, but you know what? At this point in my life, I just I'm gonna read what I like. And if there's a great fiction book out there that you want to recommend, please do. But I just love learning new things. I love ideas. I love, I don't know, I just love soaking it up. So for me, that is so nourishing. And yeah, that's just one of the ways I'm going to be focusing on that. And I think reading for me, also, if I think about it, it just reconnects me to a part of myself that can easily get buried under logistics and work and constant output. And so even though I might like nonfiction, it's not always, I don't want you to think I'm necessarily reading nonfiction, like textbooks related to my work. I'm just reading other things. I don't know, just learning about other things. I also really love music. So I'm hoping to create space to continue to play music and make music, certainly when I'm here in North Carolina, because I do that through my church and with groups there. But then also I have my my little baby grand piano is up in our Massachusetts home, and so I don't normally get to play it to make more space in my life when I'm up there to play, because that historically was definitely the way that I personally learned how to emotionally regulate myself. I did not know this when I was growing up, but that was the place. So as soon as I sit down and I start playing piano, even though I'm so rusty now, it's not quite as enjoyable as it used to be when I was actually good. But it's still, it's like the muscle memory is there, you know? And so it's really life-giving for me. And I'll just sit and play and sing. And that for me fills me up. And so I will definitely be doing that when I'm in Massachusetts. And I don't know about you, but I feel like creativity, at least for me, it definitely requires a little more spaciousness. So I have to be intentional about it. So whether that's music or reading or design, like I'm really excited actually, because I'm going up to the house and I have a lot of work, like not fun work I need to do at the house, but part of what I like to do there is just thinking through design and redesign. And, you know, even if it's just one little corner of the house or one room, that definitely lights me up. And then the other thing that I'm hoping to create space for. Now you might be thinking about this listening, like, how does how she's gonna have so much time for this? Even as I say it out loud, I'm a little nervous. I'm like, am I gonna have enough time for this? But I think I will. It's not like I'm gonna be doing any of these things 24-7. I'm just carving out some time in the summer to do it. So the other piece for me is around writing. And I have really wanted to be writing more diligently and more regularly, like over this past year. And if I'm just being totally transparent and honest, like I just haven't been, not like I want to. So without a whole lot of pressure, I just want to sit down, create space, and just get into a rhythm of it and do it playfully without, yeah, like without pressure. Just do it to enjoy it and see what that feels like. So these are all the different parts of myself, like there's the music, and then there's like the visual design, and then there's the writing, and all of that is important to me, and all of that I will be prioritizing this summer. Okay, another area that I usually always prioritize, but again, this summer, this is what it's gonna look like, is the this area of just environment, like actual environment and beauty and bringing it in. Like I said earlier, I I it doesn't mean I'm spending a lot of money necessarily on anything, but getting fresh flowers. I love picking up fresh flowers at the farmer's market. It's like it's so delightful to me. I don't know why. It's like so like I'll go to Trader Joe's and I'll pick up, you know, flowers there. It's great, it's easy, it's convenient. But in the summer, when you find those like beautiful bouquets that, I mean, they're fresh, while, you know, from from the farm, I can't, I can't help myself. I have I have to bring those into the house. So I love that good food, fresh food, whole food from the farmer's market. When we lived in Massachusetts, we had a CSA. That was our favorite thing because every week we would go and pick up, you know, the surprise of whatever was going to be in the basket that week and then like get creative and cook whatever meals with that stuff during the week. Sometimes we had way too much of something, but you know, then we'd give it away. But I love this. I love this about the summer, and all of this stuff brings me so much joy. I just, I don't know. Maybe I'm weird and maybe other people don't like it as much as me, but I am delighted by it. So those are some of the things, again, like the beautiful spaces. And then honestly, even things like I mean, this might seem like a little more superficial, but I'm just gonna add it here because you know what? We're women and and we like these kinds of things. So, like, even like beauty products and clothing. So some of you might not care at all, but for me, these are also not small things. So I like to have, I already actually have them picked out. So you I'm like laughing as I think about it because I liked, I was gonna say, I like to have a summer scent or sense. And when I was in Hawaii, I I was introduced to this line of all natural, so beautiful. I have to, I'll have to go and remember the name of it because I'm blanking on it right now, and then I can add a link in the in the show notes. But my daughter was the one that told me about it, and I love it because they're just they're non-toxic. They're made with like real plants from Hawaii, and they're so beautiful, and I can wear them and not feel like I'm putting weird chemicals on my body. So, anyway, all of that to say, I have the summer scent picked out, and that brings me joy. You know, it's like aromatherapy. I definitely have like some of my favorite beauty products that, again, I will wear often throughout the year, especially because I go to Hawaii so much and it's just always warm and, you know, humid in Hawaii. So I have like the makeup routine that I probably wear most days of the year, but definitely like the summer routine with my favorite beauty products. And then again, the summer, like I said, I'm wearing my flowy dresses. I am usually almost always in linen. I feel very, very, very much me in all my linen garments. And so, um, yeah, I just feel like myself. I feel very feminine, I feel just very, you know, embodied, but let my feet be happy and relaxed. And if I don't have to wear shoes, that's a good sign because that means I'm probably at the beach or I'm walking in grass. And both of those places are happy places for me. So I love feeling just like relaxed physically and it shows up in how my emotions are coming out.

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Like it just is all connected.

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So I share those things because I want you to be thinking on all these different levels. Like you might not think about the summer and think about like, oh, will a summer scent, you know, bring me joy? And maybe it won't, you know, because this is very personal to me. But I want you to think about it. Think with your senses, like smell, sight, what are you listening to? What are you wearing? What do you feel on your body? I want you to think sensorially. Is that a word? I want you to think about the summer this way, because I promise you, the more intentional you get about this, I think the more alive you will feel. And so on that note, I'm gonna segue into another area that I'm gonna, I'm I feel like this episode is getting a little long. So I'm gonna try to speed it up. But less screens, more presence. Now, I try really hard to be pretty good about this, but you know, it's always a good time to like have a little reset. And I think summertime is great because don't we we wanna be outside enjoying life and living life? We do not need to be on our screen. So for me, what this looks like is, you know, I still have work to do. I still have things that require for me a computer, a computer screen, and even my phone. So I still have those responsibilities and I still need to get those things done. And I'm sure you do too. But what I am leaning into and what I typically do in the summer, and even at other times of the year, especially when I know I'm gonna be, again, traveling to Hawaii for a big chunk of time, is that I batch my work. So I'm very boundaried and I say, okay, I'm gonna be sitting in front of my computer or I'm gonna be on my phone posting XYZ. Like during this time, I get the work done, I'm in front of the screen, and then I try to create systems and ways of working so that I can unplug and really be unplugged. Now, I realize that not everyone has the luxury, or depending on what the work is, to do something like that. I'm just telling you what I try to do. So if I can create boundaries around screen time instead of like constantly, you know, grazing social media or my email all day, I just feel dramatically better mentally. Like I can tell the difference. If I if there's a day where for whatever reason I'm just on a screen longer, I'm sure you feel the same way. I just I feel sluggish. I feel, I just feel a little weird, honestly. So this summer, I do want to be very mindful of this and just have more presence and be living my real life with real people outside, in nature, breathing in air, you know, actual conversations with human beings. Like this is the vibe that I'm going for, and I hope for you too. And then lastly, I want to talk about creating for me spiritual spaciousness. And spiritually, I think for me, because I tend to try to integrate this into my everyday life all year round, not just in the summer. But one specific thing that I want to do a little bit more this summer and carve out more time to do is journaling and specifically journaling like what I'm praying about or talking to God about. I haven't been doing very much of that lately, if I'm being honest. I love journaling. I've journaled my entire life. So, you know, I'm I'm very big into journaling and what that looks like for me can change season to season. And I'm feeling in this season, like I just want to be a little bit more intentional about writing these things down because I have a feeling there's I I love being able to write these things down and then later in life going back and being able to track with it like exactly what I was thinking and praying about and talking to God about like in the season. And I just feel like in 2026, there's been a lot of really interesting, kind of unexpected things that I feel like God has been bringing up and opening doors to. And I want to be sure I'm writing these things down because I know I will forget. I will forget. So again, this is just me and I have to create that time to journal. Some of you might like doing it in the morning. I tend to be someone who like stays up later and kind of needs wind down time. So, like for me, journaling is nice, like at the end of the day. Um, or even if it's just like on a Saturday morning, you know, maybe it's not every night, but it's just creating a little bit more time to reflect and write those things down. So that is what I personally am going to prioritize. So again, I'm not just creating the time to pray. I feel like I do that like on regular occasion, but actually writing some of these things down. Because I just think it's it's just, I don't know. It's fun. Like I said, I go through seasons where I do this more or less, and I'm feeling like I'm entering into this season where I feel like it's just important. So that was a lot. And I hope that you found this episode at the very least entertaining. But maybe I'm hoping it gives you some ideas for yourself as you intentionally think about your summer. How do you want to spend your time? How do you want to feel? Obviously, we can't do it all. And and I don't want my list of ideas to make you feel overwhelmed. They're just ideas. They're literally just the things that I'm thinking about right now. Who knows? I might decide in a couple of weeks or a month that, you know, I'm scrapping half of them. I have no idea. But these are the things in my heart right now that I'm excited about for the summer and that matter to me and that I know if I do them by the end of the summer, I'm gonna feel really good about how I lived out this season. So I guess I'd just say that I'm ultimately, like what I'm ultimately craving is not perfection at all, right? It's certainly not productivity, although I want to be productive with my work. But mainly, I think if I were personally to describe like what it is I'm craving or going for this summer, it's it's really more around psychological richness and aliveness. And to me, that means presence. I don't think we can have a psychologically rich or alive experience unless we're really present in our actual life. So that is my goal. You may have a very, very different goal for your summer, but I just thought I'd share what my plans are. And maybe at the end of the summer, I'll do an episode where I reflect and see and sort of report back like how did it go? So, presence, aliveness, this is what it's all about for me. It's not just about rest. I think many women would like rest, but sometimes we don't get rest the way we think we want. Like we think we want to sleep in every day, but maybe it's not actually about that. Maybe it's not just more sleep, although you probably do need more sleep, but maybe it's about more reconnection to the things that bring you to life, more beauty, creativity, connection, and meaning, all of these things, they give us energy that is different than sleep. It's like the emotional juice, right? And the older I get, like I said earlier, the more I realize that all these things and the beautiful parts of it, it's just not this beauty that I keep talking about. It's not separate from my well-being. It is so central in many ways. And I really do believe it's how a big part of how we remain fully human in a culture that constantly tries to turn us into machines. I might, for goodness sakes, we literally have robots and machines like doing all this stuff for like increase productivity, increase productivity. It's like it's so exhausting to be in a culture that values that so much. Other cultures simply do not. But if you're in America, this is the culture we live in, unfortunately. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, this is what the culture prioritizes. So we have to, it's like we're swimming upstream to do something different. And honestly, like this whole realization for me is a huge part of why I decided to create the Summer Sanctuary, which is a private mentorship I'm offering to just a very few women this summer. And I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I'm not sure I will open up any private spots to work with me for the rest of 2026. That I'm not a hundred percent firm on that, but I'm kind of leaning in that direction. So I say that because if you want to work with me one-on-one, which is very high touch, you know, like you get a lot of support. I actually have two levels of working with me one-on-one this summer, and you can check out the link in the show notes so you can check it out. One is, you know, highly supportive, and the other one is like concierge-level support. It's like like you've got me in your back pocket, like almost every day. Not every day, but almost every day, which is why I'm keeping this really small. I can't do that for a large group of women, especially because you just heard about the kind of summer I am planning for myself. So I'm creating the balance for myself, but I want to help some women do the same. So if you're interested, you can check that out in the show notes. But this is this is what it's all about. And whether you just take some notes from this podcast, whether you come into my world and, you know, work with me for a season, like really intentionally to change and shift some things in your life. This is what I hope for you. I hope that you live into this summer really intentionally, reconnect to yourself, reconnect to the people that matter to you. And yeah, just enjoy it and get to the end of the summer and feel like, wow, I lived this summer well. So as I close today, I just offer you a couple questions to ask yourself as you think about the summer. What actually makes me feel more alive? And how can I do more of that? Like, am I intentionally making room for those things in my life? And if I'm not, how can I do that this summer? Even if it's just like one or two small things. It does not have to be a laundry list, but I really encourage you to do that because flourishing is often built through paying attention to the things that nourish us more deeply than we realize. So, with that, I hope you have a beautiful, beautiful week, my friend. And I look forward to meeting you back here, same time, same place next week. Until then, keep flourishing. Thank you for listening to the Power to Flourish podcast. I hope today's conversation left you feeling more seen, more supported, and more deeply connected to yourself. And if this episode resonated, would you take a moment to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with a friend? It's one of the best ways to help this work reach the women who need it most. You'll find show notes, links, and resources from today's episode at powertoflourish.com. And now just a quick reminder: this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only. Not therapy, medical advice, or substitute for professional support. Listening doesn't make me your therapist or doctor. If you're looking for a coach, you know where to find me. All right, that's it for now. Until next time. Trust yourself, honor again.