How to Prepare for a New Season of Life

Did anyone else just look at their calendar and realize that the kids will be out of school for the summer in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS?? 😳🫠

I have so many questions.

Where did this year go? How is it nearly SUMMER already? Also, this is my first summer working from home with the kids around so what are they going to do for 12 straight weeks while I’m working and our town is pool-less?

There’s no doubt that I am excited to have more flexibility this summer and spend more time with the kids, but I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit that I’m kind of petrified for this new season.

How will I be able to keep up with my writing assignments while I have kids at home? Will screen time become the norm? How much time will be spent running them and breaking up fights?

I am an optimist by nature, but also…

SO. Knowing what I know, and understanding that this next season of life will take some time to adjust to and look a little wonky at first, I’m doing my best to plan + prep ahead of time.

This post is a culmination of how I’m getting myself mentally prepared for this next {summer} season of life.

The questions I post here are helping me ease the fear understand what’s important over the next 12 weeks and what’s not.

First Things First: Get quiet and TAKE time to Process.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned in the past is that if I don’t take time to process a new season and get clear on what matters and what doesn’t, I will fall into the new season haphazardly instead of intentionally.

Meaning: I will spend a lot of time scrambling and focusing on things that don’t actually matter.

This can also be defined as “setting boundaries.” If I don’t decide ahead of time what genuinely needs my focus in these next few months, I will be pulled in a million different directions and let events/my calendar/others decide what my boundaries are.

Turns out, it’s a lot more freeing and fun to just KNOW what requires my focus and let the rest go. (I realize this is a shocking revelation, but I sure am a slow learner and it’s taken me a while to fully grasp this concept.)

So, typically what I do is just open a blank word doc and start typing.

I list the questions below, get quiet, sip my coffee, chat with God, and envision what my best options are for the next season of life.

This truthfully doesn’t take long and I can’t recommend it enough!

Here’s the questions I ask myself:

What are my priorities in this season?

Key point: In this season. I am notorious for getting lost in the weeds and letting my mind wander to life further down the road. I have to remind myself not to worry about what my priorities are 6 months from now, or what they should have been 2 weeks ago, but what they now, in this new season?

To get clear on what my priorities are, I have to dig a little deeper and ask:

• What matters to me?
• What do I care about?
• What will require my time?
• Where does God want me and what is He leading me to?
• What projects have to be completed and can’t slip through the cracks?
• What do my people (ie kids, husband, family, close friends) need from me in this next season?

Sometimes these questions can be hard if we’re entering a season where we will have priorities that we didn’t exactly choose, but have chosen us instead.

What I mean by this is that some seasons of life come to us unexpectedly and without a choice. A family member gets sick, an unexpected circumstance pops up, etc.

Maybe what’s required of us isn’t what we really WANT to be required of us. I get that. I have a feeling a lot of my time this summer will be coaching my children on how to get along, which is something I’d rather NOT spend time on. But it is what it is, right? And this “coaching” is something my kids need from me, whether it’s really what I want to do or not.

There’s a reason we’re in the season of life we’re in. How can we make the best of it? How can we be sure we’re focusing on the right things?

Getting clear on priorities is the first step to embracing our new season of life.

What are NOT my priorities in this season?

The beauty of getting clear on our priorities is that we can easily start to see what needs to be eliminated. Some things to consider:

• What needs to be given the ax?
• What needs to be cut from the schedule?
• What doesn’t deserve my time and attention?
• What can I peacefully let go of?
• What could potentially get in my way?

One thing I’m realizing I will really need to watch for in this next season is distractions.

Yes, my children will likely interrupt me while I’m working. I’m coming to terms with the fact that this will probably be an everyday thing.

What I’m talking about here are sneaky distractions. Things like scrolling Instagram when I actually have time and space to be working, letting go of the consistent need to check email, and getting lost in a rabbit hole of pop news/Google searches, etc. (Guilty!🙋‍♀️)

I also want to manage really well what I already have before adding anything new.

With the wonky summer schedule quickly approaching, I’m realizing that I will likely be tapped out on my current client work. While this is great news (and totally a God thing!), I want to make sure I’m serving my current clients really well with the time I have. This means I probably won’t be able to take on anything new. At least not at the beginning. (Never say never!)

As a last note here, remember that just because you’re setting something down for this season, doesn’t mean you can’t pick it back up in the next one.

I have this incredibly strong itch to update and redo my website, but I’m fully aware that this isn’t a project I should be taking on this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I want to! But I think this is just one of those things I’ll need to set down and revisit later.

What will it take for me to ensure my priorities are in check? (and a note on time-mapping.)

In other words, HOW am I going to make sure my priorities stay the main thing and how will I keep distractions at bay?

In general, I think we do a great job of asking the “what” questions. But we tend to forget to ask ourselves the “how” questions. The questions that guide us and help us create a plan of action (because getting off track is bound to happen). Questions like:

• How will I keep my priorities in check?
• What processes can I put in place to help me stay on schedule? (James Clear talks about this one in depth in this post about time management.)
• What parameters and boundaries can I put in place to keep me within the guardrails of what I should be doing?
• How much time is needed to do the things I’m required to do in this season?

This last question, the one on time, is one I especially want to focus on.

Let’s say I have four client projects that are due by the end of the week. I can write “Finish 4 client projects” on my to-do list, but that doesn’t really help me understand how much time I need to complete those projects.

Will this take me 4 hours? 12 hours?

I tend to always think I can get more done than I actually can. It’s a fatal flaw really. Things I’ve said:

• I can get that finished in 30 minutes! {2 hours later it’s finally done.}
• I can get ready in just 15 minutes! {It’s never less than 30.}
• I can get X, Y, and Z tasks done in no time! {It’s always TIME! And usually, double what I thought it would be!}

I’m a work in progress. 😬

So, I have learned to time-map the things that truly need to get done.

How long will it take me to complete a project and when am I going to work on it?

These aren’t glitzy and fun questions to ask, but I’ve found they’re hugely important in helping me accomplish my shiz.

What do I want my day-to-day life / overall lifestyle to look like?

I love this question because it helps me to envision the overall goal I’m looking for in this season. It’s the fun and dreamy, less tactical cousin to all the other questions.

*As a note: I dig into this one full well knowing that not every day will be perfect. I will have moments of inspiration and moments where I lack motivation. (And moments when the kids will be driving me nuts. I love them, but let’s just be honest.)

What helps me get clear on this answer:

• How do I want to look/feel/show up/BE as a person in this next season of life?
• What energy and vibe do I want to put out into the world?
• What energy and vibe do I want for my home?
• Who is the person God created me to be in this season?
• What fears and limiting beliefs do I need to release so I can fully show up as myself? 

On days when I struggle, I can check back on this list and remember the person I’m called to be in this season. The person I want to be and the person I can be.

As mentioned, I’m certain my kiddos will require more time from me this season. Knowing that, and knowing this is where God’s planted me for the summer, helps me envision myself being patient and kind toward them. I won’t ace this. I know that. But envisioning helps.

Wrapping Up.

Sometimes new seasons make me nervous. (If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is clearly true for the upcoming summer break here.) I can see the new season coming, and I can feel it in my bones.

Doing what I can to prepare for what’s ahead is helping me to ease my anxiousness, though. In huge ways. I know I won’t get it all perfect, but I feel at peace knowing I’m doing all that I can. The rest is out of my hands, and that’s ok.

**OVER TO YOU: Ready for summer? Have a new season of life approaching that’s making you anxious? SAME! What resonates with you here that you can try?