In May, I wrote an article about my Summer of Slow. I resolved to turn down the dial and mindfully live for three months. If you missed it, check it out here to read over the loose guidelines I set for myself and the goals for each month. Today, I want to give a quick recap of what I learned in month 1.

1.       Giving up social media wasn’t that hard… at first. I have to admit, I have cheated on this a few times in the last week. I don’t know if it was boredom or what, but I found myself getting on Facebook for work and then somehow scrolling down my news-feed.
2.       I didn’t have as much extra free time after giving up social media. I can’t figure out if I just didn’t use my extra time well or if I replaced most of my SM time reading every article on goop and mindbodygreen. Regardless, I am going to need some more time in the next two months for meditating and journaling so I’m going to need to figure it out.
3.       I am too “all or nothing”. I planned to move for at least 30 minutes each day. I did it most days but also found myself overdoing it a bit. I realized that my body functions best with 4-5 hard workouts each week with plenty of walking and a few days of weights. I love routine but had to let myself sleep in a few days and miss the 5:30am workout.
4.      I thrive with a reset day. I’ve been spending my “one day of nothing” at the pool and have felt super refreshed from doing literally nothing.
5.      I only read 1 full book and 2 halves. I started out really strong on this and read every night. As June progressed, my schedule started to fill up and reading took a back seat.
6.       I didn’t really measure my sleep, but by the end of the month, I felt really fatigued.  This could be due to #3 above – overdoing it on exercise. During the last week of June, I overslept 4 out of 7 days – not ideal.
7.       I could have consumed more water. My goal is 10 glasses per day starting now.

How are your summer goals coming? What have been your biggest challenges and successes?