Remember the good ol’ days? “Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer”? Back in the “Summertime, when the livin’ was easy?” When I think hard about those times, there are some similarities to what’s going on right now. (My ‘good ol’ days’ were the 60s, and there was stuff happening then too!) However, being young and free and ecstatic to be on Summer Vacation, we had lots of summer activity ideas like swimming, picking raspberries, sleeping outside under the stars, and talking for hours on the phone. We were doing something. We were active and happy and not thinking about the inevitable…school starting in the fall!
For those of us who are retired or are nearing retirement, you could say our summers never end (except for the warm weather!) Therefore, any of these ‘summer activities’ could become ongoing additions to the lives we find ourselves living in our next chapter. More information about a system for discovering a new purpose in that new season of life can be found HERE.
Your Free (and Updated for 2022) Summer Bucket List of Ideas ⬇
Summer Fun Challenges
Things are different now in this new chapter. We’re older, we might have adult children, grandchildren, maybe a spouse, or we might be single. Plus, all the responsibilities and concerns that come with aging, from our health to our finance. Our fear level is probably somewhat higher than usual with the world and national events. The temptation to hunker down doing the same old things is substantial and, at times, paralyzing. But, way down deep, we’re still those ‘crazy days of summer’ kids, and don’t you think we deserve some summer adventures and fun?
Have you watched elderly parents deal with the temptation of the couch? We watched my mother-in-law reject invitations for games, singing, even watching tv in the group room. Her circle became very small. It was just our stopping that made her happy. So now, my challenge is not to get stuck in the rut of TV reruns and Facebook scrolling. And, to accept invitations to go and do and be with my people. And, to do the inviting!
My goal is to not be that ‘little old lady’ who is content to sit in her chair not even turning on the tv or reading in her room at the retirement home, but the one who is helping organize activities and outings for the other residents, learning new things and being open to all kinds of fun! I understand with the elderly other concerns including declining health, dementia, energy, and mobility issues will affect interest in new activities. However, it could be that those concerns could improve with the addition of appropriate activities. Have you seen the video of the nursing home ladies doing a dance routine with their walkers? It’s absolutely awesome!
Summer Activity Perks
- If your new thing to try is outside, you’ll experience fresh air and, hopefully, Vitamin D and a little suntan to boot!
- You’ll burn some calories in a new way and likely rest better at night.
- You could find yourself engaging your brain in a new way. We all know the importance of learning and stretching our thinking for cognitive health.
- Those endorphins will be activated with new adventures! The feel-good hormones will kick in when we get moving or embrace a new summer activity.
- Hopefully, we will move away from depression toward happiness and joy with new adventures on our calendars.
There are many more perks to checking into a few new summer activity ideas for yourself and your friends. If you think for a minute about fun things you’ve been brave and energetic enough to try, you’ll remember how glad you were that you ‘jumped in.’
Are you a Pinner? Thanks for sharing!
Summer Activity Ideas
What types of adventures are we talking about here? Probably not sky-diving or water-skiing, but maybe those are endeavors you currently enjoy! Think about things just a little bit outside of your comfort zone. Think about things that sound fun, and you would consider if you weren’t afraid or not comfortable doing by yourself.
If you’re having a hard time coming up with new ideas for your summer activities for 2020, here is a Summer Bucket List of Ideas for you to use! There are 17 ideas for both inside and outside. Some are fun alone, and some are more fun with a pal. Reading the ideas might jump-start your creative juices and help you come up with even better suggestions!
If you’re ready to join in with the pursuit of new summer adventures this year, here’s one more step. Set a goal! Look at the Quiet Hollow Bucket List and your list (if you made one of your own) and decide how many you’d like to try before the end of the summer. You could set a goal of one per week by the time Labor Day hits or maybe try to do ten activities by the time school starts in the fall. It’s totally up to you, but set your goal, write it down, and start getting excited about which events you’ll be trying.
Let’s Wrap it Up!
Let’s wrap this up! In this post, we talked about the perks of getting ourselves up off the couch. We have a resource of Summer Activities to jog our brains and creative juices. We even looked at setting a goal for our busyness level. One last memory I’ll leave you with (and maybe you have a similar one) is my mom telling us kids that we needed to get our work done before we could go outside. So, friends, get that laundry done, clean the house, or weed your flower beds very quickly because it’s time to get out there and have yourself some fun while we’ve still got those ‘lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer’ to enjoy!
Finding a new purpose in living and joy in the day-to-day was the goal when author Kathy Rowland and her entire family (adult kids and grandkids) moved from the PNW to Texas several years ago. The focus of Quiet Hollow is to encourage ‘next chapter women’ – those who are retired, empty-nesters, or have found themselves without a spouse to jump back into life. And, she shares multiple tips, ideas, and possibilities toward that end. Kathy completed her almost 30 years as an elementary teacher and hopped into over a decade of volunteer work, side hustle-type businesses, and grandchild care before discovering her unique and fulfilling purpose for the next chapter of life. What you read on Quiet Hollow is a large part of that calling. Another part is the happy life she’s leading in Central Texas in the same neighborhood as the 3 big kids and her 5 grandkids. She and her college sweetheart husband made sure to add a pool to their new Texas home, so there are lots of noisy, splashy days in their little oasis of a backyard. Come join her on Quiet Hollow in a conversation about finding and living the life you were created to live in this later stage. The chats will be full of laughter, support, faith, and inspiration to create.
