This summer has not been all about my social venture. But before I tell you what I am doing, I will give a little history of my work life and summer.
Summer of 6th grade I got a full time babysitting job, all summer long. It was pretty cool, I just had to watch one kid, and it was good pay. I liked the idea of working all summer
Summers of 7th and 8th grade: didn't work... other than random babysitting jobs.
Summer of 9th grade: decided I liked the idea of having money so applied for my workers permit and got a real job that summer. Plus I had to pay for my contacts, and EFY, so I needed real money...Got a job as a sales girl at a beach shop on the boardwalk. I was so excited! But I quickly learned I hated retail work, I hated watching people spend large amounts of money on unnecessary stuff. I hated rearranging the displays. I hated everything about the job. But I stuck it out, earned the money I needed, and happily heralded in Labor day and the end of the beach season.
Summer of 10th grade: we moved that summer, so I could not get a job.
Summer of 11th grade: I was determined to find an interesting job, and to not subject myself to the awfulness of retail ever again. My mom suggested I become a camp counselor at our local nature park (San-Lee Park). Sure I figured, hanging out with kids in the woods sounds like more fun that retail. So I applied. Unfortunately they typically did not hire high school students for this job. But in the interview I put forth a convincing argument on why I should be hired, plus my brother, Mckay, was applying for the job as well, and I think they wanted him, so I slid in on his coat tales. I LOVED working at a summer camp. It is the best summer job in the world. You basically play all day and get paid for it.
For the next three years San-Lee Park was my summer job. Loved it so much I decided to major in outdoor recreation in college. Loved my major, but did not realize I was now sentencing myself to no more summer vacation ever again, ever. Because you see if you are a recreation major, summer is your busy season. I would take my vacations in the Fall, or the Spring, but from June - August, I have always been working 40+ hrs a week.
Flash forward to now:
With the decision to intern for myself this summer, it quickly dawned on me that I was going to have my first summer "off" in over 14 years! As I thought about this during the crazy month of April, as I raced through my over scheduled semester, the thought of a summer off seemed like pure bliss. But at the end of May as the reality of what I had signed up for this summer hit me, the thought of 12 empty weeks seemed terrifying to me. How would I fill this time? How would I be productive? What on earth was I thinking when I didn't get an internship!?!!
While I spoke some in my last post about how I was filling some of my time, my "internship" is not taking all of my hours of my summer. This summer I have decided how to learn to not be busy. I like being busy, this is why I sign up for 21 credit hours :) But I decided this summer will be a practice in slowing down.
I wrote down some goals that I would like to accomplish during this slow summer. These goals were mostly centered on things that I felt I was missing in my life.
1. Go to Girls Camp! This is probably the greatest irony in my life, I chose my bachelors degree, and first career because of the awesome 7 years I spent at Young Women's girls camp. But because of that career choice it then meant I could never go to girls camp, because I was always working. With this summer off, I could go to girls camp, so my mom and I were level leaders for the 1st year campers. It was fun, great weather and great girls. We were infested with cockroaches, but after experiencing the huge African cockroaches, I could handle the puny American variety. I also got to use my canoe skilz and rescued two swamped canoes from the lake. (see my college education was not a waste.) Camp was fun, and a great opportunity to serve.
2. Running- I started running when I came home from my mission, and actually I kept with it pretty well, until I went to graduate school for the first time. That was such a traumatic experience, that running fell by the wayside, and while I would "go for a run" every now and then, I never got back on a set running schedule. I wanted to run again. I like it, and it helps me think, so this summer I was going to run.
3. Studying the scriptures- When I was on my mission, I had two dedicated hours of scripture study every day (1 hour personal study and 1 hour companionship study.) I loved that, other than serving and teaching the wonderful people of Taiwan my scripture study experiences were some of my most precious experiences from my mission. I have never been able to have that level of scripture study again, because life just got busy and I didn't have two hours. But with this summer off I could immerse myself in the scriptures again, for long periods of time, so I decided to try to get back to my mission level of study.
4. Weekly temple attendance- When I lived in Washington D.C. I had a funny work schedule where I would have a five hour block off in the middle of the day, (I worked from 6:30 am-9:30am and then from 2-7pm.) The schedule was kind of annoying, but I started to go to the temple once a week in the middle of the day. I really benefited from going to the temple once a week, and was a little sad when my life got too busy to make that a reasonable goal in my life. But again with this summer off I could go back to my weekly temple attendance.
So now that I am at the half-way point of my summer off, I have to say I have really enjoyed living slowly and working on my goals. I am figuring a lot of things out about myself, who I want to be, and who the Lord wants me to become. And I can run 5k with out stopping! (I am working on 8k now.) I really am grateful that I have been given this gift of time, and even if I don't end up creating an amazing social venture, (although that might still happen) I will always cherish this summer I had off, because I probably will not get another one for a long while :)
With the decision to intern for myself this summer, it quickly dawned on me that I was going to have my first summer "off" in over 14 years! As I thought about this during the crazy month of April, as I raced through my over scheduled semester, the thought of a summer off seemed like pure bliss. But at the end of May as the reality of what I had signed up for this summer hit me, the thought of 12 empty weeks seemed terrifying to me. How would I fill this time? How would I be productive? What on earth was I thinking when I didn't get an internship!?!!
While I spoke some in my last post about how I was filling some of my time, my "internship" is not taking all of my hours of my summer. This summer I have decided how to learn to not be busy. I like being busy, this is why I sign up for 21 credit hours :) But I decided this summer will be a practice in slowing down.
I wrote down some goals that I would like to accomplish during this slow summer. These goals were mostly centered on things that I felt I was missing in my life.
1. Go to Girls Camp! This is probably the greatest irony in my life, I chose my bachelors degree, and first career because of the awesome 7 years I spent at Young Women's girls camp. But because of that career choice it then meant I could never go to girls camp, because I was always working. With this summer off, I could go to girls camp, so my mom and I were level leaders for the 1st year campers. It was fun, great weather and great girls. We were infested with cockroaches, but after experiencing the huge African cockroaches, I could handle the puny American variety. I also got to use my canoe skilz and rescued two swamped canoes from the lake. (see my college education was not a waste.) Camp was fun, and a great opportunity to serve.
2. Running- I started running when I came home from my mission, and actually I kept with it pretty well, until I went to graduate school for the first time. That was such a traumatic experience, that running fell by the wayside, and while I would "go for a run" every now and then, I never got back on a set running schedule. I wanted to run again. I like it, and it helps me think, so this summer I was going to run.
3. Studying the scriptures- When I was on my mission, I had two dedicated hours of scripture study every day (1 hour personal study and 1 hour companionship study.) I loved that, other than serving and teaching the wonderful people of Taiwan my scripture study experiences were some of my most precious experiences from my mission. I have never been able to have that level of scripture study again, because life just got busy and I didn't have two hours. But with this summer off I could immerse myself in the scriptures again, for long periods of time, so I decided to try to get back to my mission level of study.
4. Weekly temple attendance- When I lived in Washington D.C. I had a funny work schedule where I would have a five hour block off in the middle of the day, (I worked from 6:30 am-9:30am and then from 2-7pm.) The schedule was kind of annoying, but I started to go to the temple once a week in the middle of the day. I really benefited from going to the temple once a week, and was a little sad when my life got too busy to make that a reasonable goal in my life. But again with this summer off I could go back to my weekly temple attendance.
So now that I am at the half-way point of my summer off, I have to say I have really enjoyed living slowly and working on my goals. I am figuring a lot of things out about myself, who I want to be, and who the Lord wants me to become. And I can run 5k with out stopping! (I am working on 8k now.) I really am grateful that I have been given this gift of time, and even if I don't end up creating an amazing social venture, (although that might still happen) I will always cherish this summer I had off, because I probably will not get another one for a long while :)
