Your ultimate summer wellness guide is HERE! Wellness is important all of the time but let’s talk summer! Healthy girl summer is around the corner and there is no better time to feel our absolute best.
This wellness guide is divided into two parts: physical wellness and mental wellness. Both are equally important to feeling whole and your overall well-being. Summer is the season to be sparkling in order to do that, you have to feel good. This is your guide to find that feeling!
Feel free to refer to the wellness guide throughout the summer, or to read it once through and build your own guide based on the points that resonate. I hope you find some value – now time to dive in!
Physical Wellness
Being strong is sooooo hot right now. And it’ll be hot for the rest of your life. Strength leads to longevity and can increase your chances of being completely independent in your old age. Looking good is just a side effect and a mega-bonus.
Physical health goes beyond strength, though. Drinking water, eating healthy, getting sunlight but staying a little protected from it, going to your checkups, and more all contribute to your physical wellness. Below are the top tips for your physical summer wellness plan:
DAILY:
- Move your body.
- Tip to stay consistent: move your body the same time every day! Morning, afternoon, or evening, whenever you feel best.
- If you don’t already have a workout plan, summer is the time to step into one. If you’re more advanced, lock in and create a workout plan where you are progressively overloading. Integrate pilates and cardio. You can create a plan in your notes app or on real paper – whatever excites you.
- If that all sounds like a lot and you have no idea where to start, start with walks. Walk daily!
- If you can’t walk one day, then stretch.
- Eat fresh fruits.
- Get your fruits from the farmers market or pick them yourself. Summer is the best season for fruits in most climates – take advantage!
- Fruits are a naturally hydrating food, which is an added bonus during the summer months, when it is extra important to stay hydrated.
- Switch up your skin and hair care.
- In the summer, it tends to be more hot and humid. It could be a great time to switch up your skin care. Switch to lighter moisturizers that will still give you a dewy glow, but allow your skin to breath.
- Same goes for hair – pool days, beach days, and extra time in the sun can take a toll on your locks. Find an extra hydrating hair care routine to keep things shiny!
- Hydrate!
- Drink a cup of water right when you wake up, before your coffee, before your matcha – water.
- If you struggle drinking enough water, try flavored seltzer water or infusing your water with fresh fruit. You could even put your water in a fancy glass; romanticize drinking your water.
- I aim to drink two fillings from my 40oz Stanley each day. This way I know I’ve gotten about 10 cups of water throughout the day. I love that it keeps my water cold even after sitting out in the sun!
AS NEEDED:
- Take a 30 second freezing shower.
- A freezing shower does wonders for the nervous system. It can also be a welcome relief in the summertime after spending time in the sun. When you’re feeling a little crispy from a beach day, take a freezing shower.
- Ground yourself outdoors.
- Go touch grass! But seriously, if you ever need a moment, step outside with your bare feet onto the bare earth. The earth has a frequency that our man-made floors could never match. Connect with the earth for just a few minutes to truly ground yourself.
- Try a grounding mat if you can’t get outside or if you live in a city.
- Afternoon naps.
- Summer tends to be busy! More nights out and more events than its neighbors, spring and fall. While it is the time to be out and about, fatigue can build. Allow yourself a nap.
- An afternoon nap in the warm sunlight shining through your bedroom window can be healing in more ways than one. There is truly something childlike about an afternoon nap, in the best way.
…
Mental Wellness
If asked to choose between physical and mental wellness, I genuinely couldn’t. They are both that vital to our wellbeing. You could be the physically healthiest person on earth, but if you’re struggling mentally, that physical wellness is nothing (same goes the other way around).
Mental wellness is the foundation for being happy! And while it is completely impossible to be happy 100% of the time, I believe you can be mentally well 95-ish% of the time. Which is a pretty high percentage!
Even if you are not in the best headspace, there are a few things you can do every day to feel a little better, no matter your situation:
DAILY:
- Embrace the extra hours of sunlight.
- Get up an hour earlier! Or go to bed an hour later! There will be time to catch up on the sleep I promise, but you’re only young once and you only have so many summers. Go outside and embrace the day. Love the sun and it’ll love you right back.
- Try going for an 8pm walk. Eat dinner or breakfast outdoors. Do something outside that you normally wouldn’t do if it were dark outside.
- Sun is vital to your mental health and happiness. Seasonal depression is real and so is depression from staying indoors too long.
- Read something daily.
- I highly recommend starting a paperback book this summer. Specifically paperback because these are the best for the beach and the pool. There is totally something magical about a little bit of sand in your books. your beautiful hardbacks for autumn and winter.
- I mean it when I say to read every single day, even if it is just a page. I promise there is time. Or you could let yourself get lost in your reading completely. It’s great for your brain.
- Currently reading: “Atmosphere,” by Taylor Jenkins Reid (SOOOO GOOD!)
- Give gratitude daily.
- Instead of thinking about things that you might want, or that you don’t have (yet), try to focus on everything you HAVE this summer. You could keep a gratitude list that you refer to each day or keep a gratitude journal.
- If you’re not much of a writer, that’s okay! When you wake up, or before you fall asleep, just list a few things in your brain that you are thankful for in that moment, or list something good that happened during the day.
- It sounds so cheesy but even the worst days provide something to be thankful for. Look for it <3
- Open the windows for a little in the morning.
- Get some fresh air into your home. It’s wonderful for your mood and wonderful for air flow. The stuffiness has no place in our summer season!
AS NEEDED:
- Connect to your community.
- Attend community events this summer! Your city probably has an Instagram, so follow it, and stay up to date with all of the events going on throughout the season.
- A few other ways to connect are attending workout classes, working in a cafe rather than from home, or volunteering.
- Connection is vital to our mental health. Quality relationships with others and with our community lead to a sense of belonging, which feels so good.
- Give yourself positive affirmations.
- Summer means bathing suits. And less clothing. And let’s be real, I am sure there have been moments where we don’t love how we look – everyone feels like that sometimes. But be kind to yourself. Treat yourself like your own best friend, or like you’re a very small child.
- Repeating affirmations, even if you have to force yourself, can be powerful. Say it enough until you believe it.
- Try a technology detox.
- Try a tech detox that is sustainable for you! Start with turning your phone off for an hour or two. If that’s too easy, go one full day with no phone. See how much you get done and how many other things you end up doing!
- A challenge like this is a great little sidequest to try this summer. It’s a great way to practice self control and to feel better.
- Take it a step further and set limits up on the apps you tend to doom-scroll through, and actually listen to the limit.
…
However you choose to embrace wellness this summer, do it with gentleness and love for yourself.
You’ve got this!
The ultimate summer wellness guide is here to help you feel your best and I truly hope that you did find some value in this post. Here’s to your healthiest summer yet – go sparkle! Thanks so much for reading <3
