My husband and I will be celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary next week, and like most do, I’ve been reflecting back on the last 3 years of our marriage. For those of you who are about to stop reading this because #marriage, hang with me. (This is actually not about marriage at all.) So reflecting on the past 3 years, I realized that we’ve never really slowed down. The first year of our marriage was centered around renovating our home. The theme of year two was my dietetic internship. In the last year, we have found ourselves filling our schedules to the brim with community projects, friends, family, and work more than ever. Nick is also a business owner which includes countless hours at the office, meetings, and of travel.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading on mindfulness and the health benefits of slowing down. Summer seems to be the perfect time to put it into practice and slow it all down. I’ll be documenting my experience and sharing throughout. If you intentionally practice any kind of mindfulness, I want to know about it! This often scatter-brained, pseudo-multitasking girl can use all the help I can get!

I’ve set some boundaries for myself and a few different month long challenges to keep things fresh and interesting. These guidelines are loose, and I will definitely be giving myself some grace if I don’t follow them perfectly.

1. No social media. Starting next Tuesday, I am committing to staying off all social media outlets except my work accounts.
2. Sleep. I will sleep for at least 7 hours each night. This will actually be pretty difficult for me because I tend to stay up past my “bedtime” often.
3. Rest. On a similar note, I am committing to at least one day of rest per week. This will be a day with no plans so that I can legitimately rest but also a day of margin and spontaneity.
4. Hydrate. I will drink more water and keep alcohol intake to a minimum.
5. Read. I want to read one book per week. I think this will be a lot more attainable once social media isn’t taking up hours of my day.

I will also be doing three different month long challenges.

1. June – Movement. I will do some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.
2. July – Meditate. I will meditate for at least 5 minutes each day. I will be focusing on scripture memory, and I know that meditation is definitely going to help with this.
3. August – Journal. I will be documenting my experience throughout the summer, but I will specifically focus on journaling during the last month.

And that’s it. I’ll keep you posted as the summer goes on about how things are going. I appreciate your prayers!

Have you ever tried to slow down? What worked? What didn’t work? How are you going to be intentional with your time this summer?