Creating Memories Worth Remembering Takes Effort: The Summer Bucket List is the Key

By Erika Fehrenbach Prell

Summer is upon us, DreamChasers! And, if you are like my family, this summer isn’t looking like our typical summers due to this whole pandemic situation. To say it’s been a rollercoaster of emotions is putting it mildly! Disappointment as things are canceled like trips and fairs to uncertainty as the fate of baseball and sports remains unknown to excitement as we have control over the majority of our schedule for the first time in a long time. That is where I choose to shift my focus...on what I can control. I encourage you to do the same!

Some of the casualties of these cancellations, however, are all those glorious things to occupy the time of my children like summer school, sports camps, and even the local swimming pool. I am sure I am not the only parent thinking, “what am I going to do with these kids to keep them off of screen all summer?!?”. The struggle is real. 

Then, it came to me! I remembered something that I literally just wrote about as a lesson from my mom (check out the full blog here (https://www.findyoursoulshine.com/blog/life-lessons-to-adapt-from-my-nominee-for-the-worlds-best-mom). Creating memories worth remembering takes effort! If I am being real, summer is typically an easy time to rely on all the things already going on to be the catalyst for creating memories, requiring mostly coordination of schedule. The blank slate summer of 2020 is a perfect opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade, DreamChasers, and the key to this memory creating is the summer bucket list!

​I am sure you are familiar with the idea of a bucket list. It is typically a list of all the things you want to experience in your life; they may range from travel to learning an instrument to earning your degree. (As a quick aside, this list is unfortunately synonymous with “someday” and can, therefore, be put on the back burner. Here at SoulShine Life Connections we encourage you to work on checking those boxes now but that’s for another day!). The summer bucket list is along that idea except focused on things you want to do in the next few months. Like the traditional bucket list, the content of the summer bucket list is only limited by your imagination!

To get you started, here is the start of our summer bucket list this year; these are ideas that have either never made it on our list or has never been checked off because we were too busy with baseball and other things:

1. Hit the bike trails and explore your city (and, maybe, attempt to find the best ice cream cone around!)
   
2. Pack a picnic and hike some trails 
   
3. Photo scavenger hunt 
   
4. Paddle away on a canoe or kayak 
   
5. Get your balance on with a stand up paddleboard
   
6. Hit the beach and build a sand castle
   
7. Cast the afternoon away fishing
   
8. Catch a movie outdoors at a drive-in theater (or, create one in your backyard, if you are crafty!)
   
9. Roast marshmallows and make a S’more (don’t have a firepit? Melt in the microwave or bake in the oven.)
   
10. Get out the hose and have a water fight
    

Write your list, make it fun! Plan your time to check items off your bucket list. You will be on your way to creating a fun summer full of memories worth remembering...and worth the effort you put into them!

Shine on!

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