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Lounge Thoughts

If you’re like me, you’re absolutely thrilled by the beautiful sunny days coming around corner with no seasonal depression in sight. If you’re REALLY like me—you’ve also been finding yourself busier than normal. Really busy, in fact. Some would even look at your schedule and think it’s too busy.

Is it?

It’s a tale as old as time—we get our first glimpse of summer in Seattle and suddenly before July hits it seems like we are booked up already with fun plans. Between camping, and trips, and happy hours…everything just adds up. It’s exciting and fun to embrace every opportunity that comes your way. But in reality—we still need as much rest and relaxation as we do the rest of the year.

I like to think I’m someone who always has space and time for new connections. Whether it’s dinner with a friend or being open to a new romantic spark at a board game night—I enjoy the idea of building relationships. But being open to connections when you’re constantly building plans for yourself doesn’t really seem to be the best combination, does it?

A friend said recently “If you’re already feeling like it’s hard to keep up with your existing relationships, where do you think a new one will fit in to that?” It hadn’t really occurred to me. Time is not limitless, after all. At some point your schedule will fill up. And when it does—will there be any space left in your schedule for someone new to come in?

That’s not even including the need for rest and rejuvenation that we still need to get through all these exciting plans!

There’s a concept I love in mental health called the spoon theory. The spoon theory is a metaphor describing how much energy each activity takes. Some activities take a lot of spoons, and some take very little. But when you run out of spoons, suddenly you don’t have enough energy for activities that require them. During these fun summer days—I have a bad tendency of planning activities for myself every day that require multiple spoons. And I don’t always plan space to be able to regain those spoons. So instead---I end up having to cancel plans or even worse---showing up to those plans but feeling burnt out and like I’m not able to be very present for those that matter to me. Or could matter to me…if I had the time and energy in my life to build a connection for them.

Whether you are someone trying to build communities, or you are someone that is looking for a spark, here is one piece of advice to remember as you plan out your sunny day adventures:

Leave room for the unexpected.  Plan open spaces in your schedule. Days when you don’t have anything going on. Mornings to sleep in. Evenings when you know you might be tired from an activity the day before. It can be tempting to fill those timeslots. And you can---if you feel like you’ll feel healthy and happy from doing so.  But leave open spaces for life to happen. For a connection at Speed Dating to turn into drinks after work. For a walk around Greenlake with a new friend you’ve been trying to invest more time in. For a night when you sit in your house by yourself and read a book.

I’m looking forward to a summer of mindfulness amidst all the shenanigans. Hopefully I see you somewhere in there as well!

— India, SSC Volunteer

Time for fun!

This week’s Time For Fun is a Seattle Social Club Word Search. See if you can find the twelve hidden words in our puzzle!