Not too long ago I wrote a blog post about Hot Girl summer and I wanted to do that. But I have changed my mind because this week ‘Hot girl summer’ was on the news because apparently there are also girls who decided to make HGS lists and you get points for everything you cross off that list. Normally, I love lists but not this one. Those lists were about sleeping with a random guy etc. When I did research on Hot Girl Summer, there were many articles about a healthy lifestyle. I think I can still call it Hot Girl summer and just follow my own list (for example reading self-help books), but somehow it feels a bit weird knowing other girls are using that term to say they slept with guys as a chore. I decided to change the name to Happy Girl Summer, which makes more sense too.
What is Happy Girl Summer?
The name says it all: to become the happiest version of ourselves this summer. But there is no one right way to do this. Everyone is different and has different goals in life. That is why my goals are pretty generic. You can adjust the steps to your own goals.
Happy Girl Summer list
1. Self-help books
There are tons of self-help books these days and no matter what your exact goal is this summer, you can find a book about it. If you want to become more confident, read books about that topic. If you are like me and want to become the happiest version of yourself and change your life, you can read ‘The power of now’ or ‘Breaking the habit of being yourself.’ Of course, you can buy these books and just read them. But you also have to do the work for yourself every single day. If you want to become fit, you go to the gym and work out every day or a few times a week. If you want to change your life, you also have to work on your mindset every day. Only then you will see improvement.
2. Exercise
Going to the gym is not really for me, but I want to lose a little bit of weight. I’ve been eating a lot of junk food lately and I wasn’t very active in the last couple of months and I’ve gained weight. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but I kind of want to lose a little bit of weight. But you don’t have to go to the gym if you don’t want to. It shouldn’t be another chore on your to-do list. Working out should also be fun. I want to find a way to make working out more fun.
3. Eat healthily
I’ve been eating a lot of junk food, but I would also like to change that and eat more veggies and fruit. Which shouldn’t be a problem, because I like fruit and veggies. But somehow I always picked junk food over fruit and veggies. I just have to make better choices. It doesn’t mean I can’t eat junk food ever again, I just have to make better choices most of the time.
4. Meditation
Meditation has a lot of benefits and if you google it, you can find a very long list of benefits. I mostly want to meditate to quiet that voice in my head. I am an overthinker and overthinking mostly means you are thinking about the negative things. It is almost never about the good things. Meditation can also help with reacting angrily when something ‘bad’ happens. Most of the time I respond immediately but not in a good way. Meditation can change that and before you react, you can take a step back and see it is not always bad. Your mind makes you believe it is bad. Eventually, you will become a more relaxed and nicer person.
5. Dress more confident
I don’t know how this works, but when I dress up nicely I feel so much better. But most of the time I am just wearing something comfy. And sure, it makes me feel comfortable, but I prefer to feel confident and sexy. That is why I want to change my style. Right now, I am kind of in the mood to wear dresses. Because some dresses can make me feel like I am a princess.
6. Drink more water
I always bring my water bottle everywhere I go. But sometimes I drink ice tea or something with a lot of sugar in it. Drinking water is good for your body. It is what we need. Drinking enough water can also help you to focus and perform better on a daily basis. I want to make sure I drink enough water every single day, which is around 2-3 litres per day.
7. Spend less time on the phone
I have TikTok and other social media platforms but especially TikTok is very addictive. In the evening I prefer to read a book or do something else relaxing. But somehow I end up on my phone because I wanted to check something, but suddenly it is 2 hours later and it is time to go to bed. Spending a lot of time can also be very harmful to your mental health. It is better to use it only when you really need it. Like back in the day, I only used my phone to make a call or text someone if it was really necessary. But then social media changed everything. It basically controls us, instead, we are using our phones.
This is my Happy girl summer list. I take one step at a time. I am reading ‘breaking the habit of being yourself’ and it says to work on one thing at a time. Otherwise, it can become overwhelming. But hopefully, at the end of the summer, I can say I have changed and I am a lot happier.