For the past few years, summer meant waking up at noon, doing nothing all day, then working your part-time job from 4-9 p.m.After that exhausting five hour shift, you’d see your friends, party, read, go to the beach or relax all night and repeat.
That’s all about to change.
Your full-time job is here. Whether it’s a “standard” 9 to 5 or four 10 hour shifts, a huge chunk of time will be suddenly taken from your life.All is not lost. There’s probably a lot more money involved with this job than the 20 hours of retail work you’ve done in summers past. That opens up considerably more doors for spending that quality free time. That’s the key to enjoying summer and work.
The first way to enjoy that free time is to have more of it. It sounds obvious, but the more leisure time available, the better. That means working more efficiently while at the office. There’s no point in staying past 5:00 p.m. when there’s nothing to accomplish. Don’t sit at a desk wasting time staring at a random email or a to-do list! Go outside.
Another way to enjoy summer while working full-time is to make the office as much fun as possible. It’s not as hard as it might seem. While the linked article suggests outdoor lunches, taking walks and spending time with coworkers during the day, there’s a lot more that can be done. Hit up a local happy hour at a nearby bar patio after work. You spend all day with these people, what’s a few more hours with cheap, fruity cocktails? Chances are, some of these people are your friends anyway.
Perhaps one of the most important things to do is to schedule fun. That may sound backwards, but it’s crucial. There are a million articles that say you should hang out with friends, go on vacation, really enjoy Saturday and get dinner on weeknights, but that stuff wouldn’t happen without a schedule. You and your friends are busy. It’s only going to happen if it’s planned. A text at 4:50 p.m. saying, “drink?” won’t get as far as a 7 p.m. Facebook message the night before asking to spend time together tomorrow.
It’s not unreasonable to want to spend all summer having nothing but pure, unadulterated fun. Unfortunately, that’s just not possible. However, with a bit of planning, relaxation never has to be far from the office.
Feature Photo via GQ