Summer is here, bringing with it long days filled with sunlight and an invigorating sense of possibility. It’s the perfect time to embrace new routines and habits that can help you become the woman you’ve always wanted to be. Let’s explore new summer routines for growth and emotional regulation!
You’re One Decision Away From Being Your Own Dream Girl
Your singlehood is your time to take care of yourself like never before, introduce new habits and keep them even when you meet your forever man. Always keep most of your focus on YOU!
Remember, transformation doesn’t happen overnight, and every small step counts. Whether you choose to embark on a new fitness journey, cultivate a mindful morning routine, or simply spend more time in nature, know that you are one decision away from making a positive change. This season, let’s harness the vibrant energy of summer to make empowering choices that enhance our lives, one day at a time. No pressure, no guilt—just the joy of discovering new ways to thrive.
This is the time of the year when the energy is the highest, so it’s the best time to start new, productive habits and routines for growth and emotional regulation. We all know this feeling in the winter, where getting up out of bed seems like a feat. We think to ourselves, that in the summer everything will be better. Good news! It’s summer now 🙂
So, what is it that you wanted to start to advance your life? Just 30 minutes a day compounds to over 180 hours in the course of a year. Imagine how much progress that is! This is the power of compounding.
Avoid Guilt Tripping
I’m all about spreading love and positivity, so if you’re not currently in a place to start any new routines, then don’t worry. Your time will come. You can do something else instead—starting with self-care, self-love, and simply surviving the summer is also a very good goal. And if this is currently on your path, then all power to you.
Everyone’s path looks different.
I don’t want you to feel guilty if you cannot advance to your best self right now. You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be. You were never wrong, and all you do is exactly what should be happening for you right now.
Accept and love yourself unconditionally. We cannot start changing before we develop a healthy dose of self-acceptance and self-forgiveness. If we start with changes, it means that the self-love is somewhat conditional. “I’ll love myself if I am X.” No, you first need to love and accept yourself as you are, and then the changes that come are just a bonus. A lovely, unconditionally loved cherry on top of a wonderful cake that is you and your life.
Sending you love and warm hugs, regardless of where you are!
Ideas for New Summer Routines for Growth and Emotional Regulation
Here are some examples of what might resonate with you. Pick the ones that seem the most logical and attractive and try them out. If they don’t work because you lost interest in them – trust your journey and move on to something else. Everything we do teaches us something about ourselves.
Journal Towards Your Dream Life
A good first step is to figure out what you want in this life. Do you have some dreams and desires? It’s quite challenging for some people, so don’t worry if you still don’t know what you want. A good practice is to start journaling to get to know yourself, for example by meditating and writing down what comes to mind right after. Start by describing the things you like and don’t like. Then, design a day you wish to have.
What could you consider a perfect day? You can try to figure out desires that will create this rhythm of the day. Don’t worry if your desires seem “too big” – you’re not here to refine yourself. Let go and build a picture of the life you want. You don’t have to plan anything towards the realisation of these desires yet – just dream and discover what it is that you want. The next steps will follow some other time, preferably let your subconscious mind figure the rest out. Give yourself headspace and patience to complete this process.
Wake Up 1 Hour Earlier
Just 1 hour before you start your day can work wonders. Here’s what you can do in that one hour for yourself, instead of rushing out of bed and out of the house. While everyone else is still asleep, find a calm moment and set the peaceful tone for the day.
How to Spend Your First Hour in the Morning:
- 10-15 minutes of meditation (Vipassana, meditation with affirmations, body scanning, guided meditations, loving-kindness meditations – so much to choose from). Bring awareness to your body and listen to yourself for a while.
- Breathwork – a 10-minute session that will calm your body and energise it through guided oxygenation.
- Set the intention for the day – express your gratitude for what you have and set the loving intention for the day. What do you want to feel like today? What do you want to show up as today? Sit in silence with tea and express gratitude for the peace and all you have in life. Just sit and enjoy the peace of the morning.
- Do not use your phone yet – make the first hour without any electronic devices or the internet.
- Listen to positive affirmations – download or record some positive affirmations that will be perfect as reminders of who you really are or who you want to be. Adopt it as your positive self-talk.
- Sun salutation – do a series of sun salutations every morning to move your body and energise yourself. Feel it in your body and cherish the time you give yourself to do this.
- Journal – write freely from your higher self. Make it a habit to journal your emotions and check in with yourself daily: how are you? How are you feeling? Ask yourself this as you would a dear friend or a loving partner.
- Morning walk – go to a park or a forest nearby to absorb the peaceful nature of plants and birds. Nature is the ultimate expression of the divine feminine and we absorb this peace from it, which helps us to embrace more feminine energy ourselves.
Prepare Your Food and Outfit the Evening Before
A good morning routine starts the day before. Make sure you go to bed earlier so that you can have this extra morning hour without losing any sleep. No scrolling and no “just one more episode”. I know it’s difficult to resist but we’re not going to argue for our limitations here. Show up for yourself through self-discipline. Prepare your food for the morning, outfit, and all necessary things so that your morning can remain calm instead of hectic, when we think we forgot something or still have a long list of things to do before we leave for work.
One Book a Week Challenge
If you like to read, set yourself the challenge of reading one book a week this summer. Grab a blanket and a book and go to read in a local park, to combine nature with reading. I’m sure you have a list of books you want to read. Maybe this is the time to scratch things off this list one book at a time? Books are the essential part of new summer routines for growth and emotional regulation.
Creative Pursuits: Photography, Hiking, Crafting
Start a new creative hobby. If you want to spend more time outdoors, find a hobby that will allow you to combine these two things, like photography. You can find inspiration anywhere if you let yourself. I, for one, love to photograph insects. They are not an easy target, as they move a lot, but one good shot of a bee really makes my day.
Personal Development and Skill Development
You might have a desire to advance in your career or learn something new. Take online courses or learn things from books and YouTube consistently, even if only 30 minutes a day, because through the power of compounding, it’s over 10,000 minutes a year which comes to over 180 hours a year! You can gain more from self-discipline, consistency, and persistence than from occasional spikes of motivation. Build your skills daily, no exceptions, and you will bear the fruit of your efforts in no time.
Free Printables For New Routines
Free Customisable Morning and Evening Routine printables available! Just like these below with my personal routine – but for you to fill with yours! You’ll also get access to Canva templates to personalise and print your routine.
Introduce your best habits to start before the end of summer with the help of these printables.
Vision Boarding
Build your mindset around achieving your goals. Soak your mind with the thoughts that what you want is a matter of “when” and not “if”. Work on your strong self-concept. Build your motivation daily by looking at your vision board and seed your mind with the idea that what’s on it is inevitable. Write down what you really want and place it on a board where you can see it every day. Check on Pinterest or YouTube how to make one on Canva and turn it into your phone wallpaper or create a physical one to hang on a wall where you can see it often.
Read for 15 Minutes Before Bed
Reading is one of the best things you can do before bedtime. Not only is it a relaxing activity that will prepare you for sleep, but it’s also good to avoid the blue light from screens for better, deeper sleep. Reading is also great to learn new things, enrich your vocabulary, and improve your speaking skills. Even 10-15 minutes a day, or just a couple of pages, is a great start and can bring you many benefits, whether you choose fiction or non-fiction books.
Walk in a Forest or in the Mountains on a Weekend
Mother Nature is the best expression of the divine feminine in our surroundings. Take advantage of fully green trees and blooming flowers to slow down, relax, and just absorb its calming, creative, and patient nature. Try to go at least once a week to a nearby park or a forest – schedule it in your agenda like everything else.
Plan Your Day the Night Before
It’s an expression of self-love if you display enough self-discipline to start your morning the day before by preparing your food, breakfast, planning the general structure of the day (or a to-do list), and leaving your morning as peaceful as possible. I like to spend 15-20 minutes in the evening tidying up and packing my lunch so that when I wake up, I only have to execute my morning routine without rushing and being late. You set the tone for your day by how you structure your day and that’s something I try to do all year long, not just in the summer.
Seasonal Cooking
Nourish your body with seasonal ingredients and explore new recipes. Summer is a bountiful time of fruit and vegetables freshly harvested. Try to choose seasonal produce because it’s tastier and also better for the environment.
Implement Skincare Routine
In the summer, we must remember the most important skincare ingredient: sunscreen. Apply it every morning and reapply it during the day if you sit in the sun (or at least wear a hat). Do it especially if you use skincare ingredients with active ingredients like retinol and acids. You know your skin best, so add a little routine of a gentle cleanser, good moisturiser, and sunscreen (these are the minimalist essentials), adding 1-2 active ingredients like vitamin C serum in the morning and retinol serum at night. Consistency is key!
Create More Space for Peace
You set the tone of your day by how you wake up and spend your morning. I recommend starting it in a calm way, with some sort of meditation or breathwork routine after you wake up. Check in with yourself during the day to observe how you feel and try to introduce more peace into your day. Sit with yourself and focus on you. Don’t be afraid to schedule some alone time to just relax and feel the peace as if your sanity depends on it – because it does in a way.
Make a Habit to Journal Your Emotions Away
Once in a while, there will be a day of overwhelming emotions that seem to come out of nowhere and are there for no visible reason. Emotions are artefacts of the past in our bodies, so there’s no need to dwell on them too much. However, the fastest way to make them go away is to go right through them. Journal them in your notebook to acknowledge them and understand where they come from. Then, give this part of yourself love because these emotions surfaced for you to deal with them in this moment and they need love as any other part of yourself. Love the whole you, even the part that experiences anxiety.
Keep a Gratitude Journal
You don’t have to write it down, you can just list these things in your head right before you fall asleep. If you have a journal, write down every day what you’re grateful for today. It doesn’t have to be big or unique every day. You can keep it as simple as the fact you have a roof over your head, water in your tap, and food on your table or even the things you don’t have yet but will (a loving husband, a house, a comfortable life, etc.). We take a lot for granted, and feeling gratitude is a beautiful way to raise your vibrations. Journaling is a must-have in new summer routines for growth and emotional regulation.
Move Your Body in the Morning
If you find it difficult to work out in the evening when you’re tired from work or just feeling comfortable staying in, work out in the morning when your will is the strongest to have this over with. You’ll feel so much better knowing you kept this promise to yourself. If you don’t like working out, then walk or dance or stretch. There are plenty of fun and free dancing workouts on YouTube. It’ll energise you and help shift your mood and if you do it in the morning, then you can enjoy the rest of your day with this thing crossed off your list!
Conclusion
Summer is the perfect time to embrace new routines for growth and emotional regulation that can help you thrive, even after you’re no longer single. By choosing just a few of the suggestions above, you can make small yet impactful changes in your daily life. Remember, it’s not about perfection but about progress. Celebrate each step you take towards becoming the best version of yourself.
As you embark on these new routines, be kind to yourself. Transformation is a journey, and every effort counts. Whether you’re waking up an hour earlier, journaling your dreams, or simply enjoying nature, know that each moment of self-discipline is an act of self-love. Here’s to a summer of growth, discovery, and joy!
Recommended next post to read:
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