I love summer. My birthday is in July and I’m a true summer baby. Always have been and always will be. Cancer szn 4eva! I love being hot and I weirdly love humidity. I love the beach. I love grilling every night and juicy watermelon and my kids covered in ice cream. I love fire pits and rosé.  I love sand in between my toes and the smell of sunscreen. Forget Christmas, give me every summer vibe.

But one thing I don’t love about it? The inevitable FOMO that is especially common this time of year. In the past, and sometimes now still, I have found myself feeling like I need to do more, travel more, get out of the house more. Find more social media-worthy moments to keep up with everyone else online having probably more fun than I am

But here’s the thing. I’m an introvert and a homebody (like I said, Cancer season) and when I do too much and see too many people in a week, I get totally zonked and need to be home with just my family, relaxing (as much as that’s possible with two littles).

Last year we had a newborn and this year we have a little guy on the go who is definitely not easy at the beach or to travel with. So we’re doing less. We’re spending more time in our own backyard with the water table and playing tag than at the beach 5 minutes down the road. We’re eating dinners on our patio as a family more than we are out with friends.

And guess what? It’s actually awesome. I’m so happy with this slower summer pace.

Can we please normalize summer weekends at home? Summer weekends without a million parties and BBQs and beach days and pool days and plans? Don’t get me wrong I love all those things and still go when we can, but I’m saying no more and feeling ok with those decisions.

I’m turning my summer FOMO of the past into summer JOMO (joy of missing out) of the present.

And that’s my TED Talk for today!