Do you let yourself rest in the summer? I don’t just mean an evening cookout here or a week-long beach vacation there. I mean the real unhurried softening that comes when you make rest the focus, not the reward.

For the last four years I’ve stepped away from work during the summer for intentional rest.*

It started because I was overwhelmed and verging on burn-out. I called it my slow work summer because I couldn’t imagine putting everything down and it not falling to pieces behind me.

As that first summer ended, I never picked the pace back up. I haven’t flirted with burn-out since.

The second year I stepped back for rest I called it my soft summer. I didn’t need to slow down this year; instead, I focused on adding more intentional rest that softened my life. So my days became cushioned with front porch mornings on the swing and afternoons at the natural pool.

This became my new standard.

The third summer I continued to refine and took my first vacation since I started my business where I disconnected for the entire two weeks. I also completely stopped using social media for that summer.

Last summer was the fourth year since I started this experiment, and after many years of trying things out, I’ve found my groove.

It isn’t about resting because I’m so tired from life (at least not anymore), it’s become a time to step back and give everything that’s been brushed to the side for the rest of the year the space to breathe and speak.

The summer is when I come up with my best ideas for my business and spirit has room to lead instead of strategy.

It’s when I spend more intentional time with my kids and we get to know each other better. As a Sanctuarian wrote, we get to do everything with an inch more presence, including being with one another and learning who we became over the last few seasons.

Summer is when we try new hobbies and have the space to be beginners.

This time has become a sacred buffer in my year; even though I try to bring intentionality to most days, it’s not always easy with schedules and sports and groceries and meal planning, cooking, cleaning, driving, gardening, and keeping friendships alive and well. It’s easy for the routine to settle in and all of the space to be sucked out around the edges.

I don’t always notice the space disappearing as it’s happening. I don’t always hear the excuses as they come out of my mouth…”when things settle down.” Or, “I don’t have a moment to think about that, can we talk about it later?”

What I do notice are the things I love and care about start to show signs of my neglect long before I feel it in my inner world or nervous system. My house plants droop, the garden becomes overrun with weeds, the bird feeder runs dry.

Do you have these little “outer world” triggers, too?

Those are my reminders to notice what else isn’t being tended to, or what I’m overlooking.

It’s in those overlooked spaces I find the dreams I’ve also been brushing aside.

Summer ensures those dreams have space and that I’m rested enough to tend to them.

When the Mythosomatic Sanctuary was revealing itself, Fall, Winter, and Spring (in the northern hemisphere) each had two Realms we’d explore and tend to. But the Summer was different. It showed itself as the Dreaming Field and its guardian as the Oracle.

The perfect space to rest, dream, vision, and create. Can you imagine dedicating your summer for that?

This year, as I embark upon my fifth year of summer rest, you’re invited to join me. Details will be coming soon.

Ash
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*I know it's easy to claim that running my business and completely controlling my schedule is what makes this possible, but after two years, my partner started doing it with me. He works in an office for someone else–40-60 hours out of the week, his time isn't his own. Watching him adapt this same strategy around his work schedule has been interesting and life-changing in its own way for him.