The Slow-Down Summer | Strouse House Rambles
About this time every year, we are either on our way to the beach or our toes are fully planted in the sand with a Budlight Lime in our hand. This year, it's a bit different. I am currently sitting at my desk in our office drinking a Jacob's Creek Shiraz (blogs are written on Sunday evenings) purchased when Martin's went out of business. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the former situation.
I do miss it. I miss it terribly. However, this summer isn't so bad.
Last year, I had taken my maternity leave the month prior and didn't feel great about taking a WHOLE week off so soon after I returned so we didn't get a real week beach vacation. I like to believe it was foreshadowing and a taste of the no-summer vacation life that would come in 2017.
It was tough, but I joined my family on the two weekends they are in the OBX. It was a nice taste of the salt life, nice ease into the lack of summer vacation, but I missed my full week of the beach. I missed it bad.
This year, we took (what we thought was our only) beach trip in April. I was happy and sad all at the same time. Our big trip was going to be so awesome having it so early in the year, but then that was it. No summer trip. Our trip was going to be amazing because it was our first full week trip as a family of three, but my parents weren't coming. (They were drinking their way through the Italian wineries.) Our trip was going to be different. We accepted it and had a blast with some friends and my brother with his wife.
But the thought lingered. The summer trip I grew to love, grew up taking, wasn't going to happen.
The summer trip we would have taken is actually happening right now. A bunch of our family friends are down at the beach right now. Without us. While my dad enjoys living vicariously through everyone that is there social media pictures and texts, I vowed to stay off social media so I wouldn't get kicked in the gut with jealousy every time I saw a picture of the ocean or a snap chat of a beach run. I went as far to ask my best friend, Emily, to not snapchat me while she's there - even to say she misses me - because I am so green with jealousy. (But, in reality, it's totally OK if she does. It feels good to be missed. :-P)
Petty? 100%. I can't deny that. I hope my honesty is a breath of fresh air.
I hate that I'm like that, but I have a bad case of FOMO. No. Not case. It's a chronic condition: the FEAR of missing out. Chronic and so real.
(I know it's not a medical condition and people are dealing with far worse. My life is great and fine, just let me have my FOMO with my glass of wine.)
However, I have found a small dose of medicine for my crippling case of FOMO. This summer hasn't been all that bad. It's actually been really, really nice thus far. Instead of traveling all the time, packing and living out of our suitcase, we have really learned (and enjoyed) how to slow down. Our week nights are free to cook together instead of planning a meal plan for 12 for a week at the beach. Our weekends are filled with pool trips instead of grocery tips and our mornings are open for runs...well, just as they would be at the beach. What? The Slow-Down Summer isn't a cure for FOMO, just helps manage it.
So while I am still so sad to miss a trip that we had taken for 15 years in a row (plus a bunch of other years on a different trip, but same time frame), I am learning that change is ok. Change is good. Change helps us grow. But as I said, the Slow-Down Summer isn't a cure for FOMO and neither is change.
The cure, you ask? The cure is the fact that my toes will be back in the sand in September with 14 people + 3 babies from our small group.
And a hope that we will join our family friends for that trip next year, yet again.
How do you battle FOMO?