August makes me a little antsy.
School supplies are out in stores, and that means the beginning of a new year in education is right around the corner. From experience I know that if you wait to buy the supplies until you actually need them, all you will have left to choose from will be a half open box of Rose Art crayons, a spiral notebook with several pages ripped out, and a ruler that only goes to 10″ and has the 4″ mark printed twice.
Moral of the story: buy the supplies now.
Add to that the fact that clothing shops are bringing in fall trends — even though it’s currently 95 degrees here — which makes me start to wonder if my jeans from last year will still fit, and whether or not this is the season low rise make a come back (please God, no.)
In August, yellow jackets start to realize their life of summer luxury is almost over and they become even more bastardly toward the humans who dare to venture into their outdoors. PS: click through to find a bee sting treatment that really works.
And then fall holidays start ramping up, showing me ads that remind me I only have a few more months until Christmas (4 to be exact), or how to make Thanksgiving the most relaxing holiday ever (some editor’s obvious idea of sick joke), or parenting magazines letting me know that it’s not too late to make a homemade costume for your little one (are we skipping Halloween again this year?)
So how best to deal with the jitters of August? Here’s what I’m shooting for this month:
1. Soak up every ounce of sunshine possible. Natural Vitamin D is good for you in small doses. Obviously don’t get a sunburn, but a little unprotected sun exposure is good for the body. And if you do use sunscreen, try to get one without harmful ingredients like Benzene (F-off, Cancer!). There are two I love the most right now, this one from Beauty Counter, and this one from Coola.
2. Get outside — barefoot if possible. When was the last time your bare feet touched the earth? How about soaking in a river or lake or creek? There’s a movement called “earthing” or “grounding” that talks about how important it is each day to let your body touch part of the real earth, unobstructed. This is what gardeners mean when they talk about feeling so good after pulling weeds. Or when people talk about how their heartbeat actually slows when their feet touch the ocean sand. It doesn’t have to be for very long. But there is one rule: no cell phone. Just you, the earth, and a deep, deep breath.
3. Find a good book, turn off Netflix, and settle in. Need a few recommendations? Click here.
4. Take a last vacation or road trip now and enjoy sleeping in, lazy mornings with coffee, and absolutely no plans at all for the day. Need a few Pacific NW ideas? Here are a few.
5. Revisit any goal setting you made back in January. Check in on how you are doing and if you need to make any adjustments. If you didn’t make any goals at the start of the new year, that’s okay too. Maybe now is the time to think about a goal for the last quarter of the year? Maybe something as simple as “switch from coffee to tea” (the horror!), or maybe something larger like, “schedule my mammogram” (PS: I’m testing a new-to-me breast cancer screening tool called Thermography this week. Stay tuned to see how it compares to Mammography).
However you choose to spend the month, my wish for you is that it’s filled with sunshine, blue skies, laughter, and of course, excellent reading material.
Take good care. Love you lots!
xoxo
M
PS: Book of the Month Club has the new, early release, hardback copy of one of my most favorite authors: Helen Hoang. Her new book, The Heart Principle, is available now only through BOTM Club. If you haven’t signed up yet, it’s really not scary. You only pay if you order a book that month (I think it’s like $19, annnnd you get to add-on extra books at little to no charge. You can skip any month without incurring any fees, and the book descriptions and reviewers are super spot-on. I haven’t been disappointed yet! Check out BOTM club (and The Heart Principle) here.
Dude. That really sounded like an ad. It’s not, I promise. I just really love BOTM. xo