I feel like I would normally be starting this post with what it feels like to finally be in summer. it’s official. Writing camp at Western Michigan University wrapped up last week, and I started to work on the anthology this week with a renewed sense of feeling (more) free from obligations. While I always stay busy, summer is a freedom of sorts from time. However, this year has been so different. We had five weeks off in between schools closing down and starting online learning. We then ran through online learning at a sprinting pace, and June hit all of a sudden before I could even register that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to my students. I can’t honestly say the number of Google Meets I have been on since April. I miss my classroom. I miss my students. Now, it’s July. I am just as tired. I feel just as drained. However, I am wondering if it is for other reasons than the weird way the school year ended.

I think I am exhausted because I was not feeding my own creativity and growth in terms of reading and writing during the time of online learning. I felt so frustrated with online learning and the systems and processes in place that I realized that my own goals in terms of creativity just weren’t there. So, after figuring this out about myself, I made July’s plan-with-me post a mid-year check-in review and inventory of where I am at in terms of goals, habits, and dreams. This post outlines how I set up my productivity pages for the month of July, and it also includes how I am doing a mid-year check-in. If you want to also do a mid-year check-in, follow along with the prompts. I hear so many people in the teaching profession and in my own personal life saying that they have “given up on 2020” and “I am already looking forward to 2021.” We have this time, and I know that living in the present moment has been the necessary water my life garden has needed for each phase of my life.

Let’s grow in July.