After an interesting year and another challenging one ahead, I promised myself that I would approach my summer break a bit differently than I have in the past. I’m still not used to having a break this long, but I don’t want to waste the time either.

Wasting time is a concept that is difficult to define, as we all approach it differently. Idling well is something we can all learn to do better. Remember when we could get bored and let our minds wander instead of pulling out our phone and getting lost in the black mirror?

So what have I been doing to pass the time? A bunch of different things.

I read a bit every morning since Jaz gets me up before the sun rises. I pushed my way through the new Mark Twain biography. It ultimately became a slog, and I now realize how poorly he performed as both a father and an entrepreneur. But one thing I took away was how often he’d go back and look at old writings.

Inspired by this, I went back and read the approximately thirty thousand words I wrote in 2017 while participating in NaNoWriMo. It was better and more cohesive than I would have expected. The story was set thirty to forty years after the first Trump administration, and I imagined what the world might look like. At that point, I never expected a second ride on the hate merry-go-round, but here we are. I might dive back into the story because I genuinely liked the characters, and writing more fiction is something I always want to do.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has consumed me, which is one of the most beautiful video games I’ve ever played. With a four disc soundtrack, a heartbreaking story, and a world I don’t want to leave, it has everything. This was precisely what I needed after falling in love with South of Midnight earlier this year. I’m thankful that smaller game studios are taking the time to build worlds where people like me can escape from our dark reality and feel a sense of accomplishment.

I’ve also been catching up on my backlog of miniatures that I want to print and paint. My painting skills are improving, which motivates me to continue doing it more often. Additionally, venturing down to the artist space in the basement is a perfect place to escape the summer heat, and having to concentrate solely on what is immediately in front of you is the kind of focus I crave.

The only downside to printing is that I’ve realized I’ve outgrown my original FDM printer. I’ve been experiencing printing issues since moving it to the basement, and so far, everything I’ve tried hasn’t worked. Of course, this prompted me to start shopping around for a new one, as the technology has improved significantly over the last five years. The Bambu Lab P1S is the right one since it has a built-in enclosure and the multi-color printing AMS option. A few friends have one and swear by it, and it took everything I had not to buy one during a recent sale.

Another part of my summer is always movies. My local theater is a Regal. I buy their unlimited plan for three months during the summer. I reach out to them every year, encouraging them to offer a teacher’s special because it would be very beneficial for them. As long as I see six movies throughout the summer, it pays for itself. I’ve seen six in the last month, so I’m doing well. The Life of Chuck is my must-see recommendation, and both F1 and Superman were a ton of fun on the big screen.

I told myself that I wanted to try to hold off until August to work on my fall courses, but my brain can’t push something like that off. Not how I’m wired.

Two of mine are updated and ready to hit publish in our LMS. The third one is my consumer behavior course, which I taught for the first time last fall. I learned a lot and have a long list of improvements I need to make to it. That one was left until later because it is the heaviest lift. I’m thankful for Gemini Deep Research, which helped me brainstorm a variety of assignments, readings, and other components from other business programs around the world. A slow, all summer approach feels like the right one to me for this, and already I’m feeling a million times better about it than I did last year.

Throw in multiple weekend adventures with Laura (ice cream flights & Savannah Bananas at Fenway) and a recent trip to Detroit to visit my friend Richard (a separate post coming soon), and not all of my break is spent indoors.

Recharging is vital, and we each need to find the ways that work for us. Consuming to be inspired and creating to feel are two of mine.

Plus, in today’s world, I need these escapes more than ever to think about anything other than the constant dread around us. Distractions help my sanity.