I want to make the most out of this summer. Mostly because last year I barely did anything. Also, the year before that, I didn’t really do anything either. And the year before that… you get the point. I’ve never really been good at seizing the opportunities provided by the summer months.

So this summer, I’m going to be living by some rules to help guide me in getting the most out of the season, mainly in terms of elevating my social life. A better word for these might be “goals,” but calling them rules just makes them feel more… official. It’s probably just a me thing.

Ordered from most to least important, my rules for the summer are:

1. Every weekend must have a plan.

This is the cornerstone of my strategy to live the best summer possible. Too many weekends I’ve wasted away rotting on my computer, mindlessly watching YouTube, browsing Reddit, or scrolling Reels. I find I have pretty much no motivation to do something with my free time unless I have actually planned something ahead, hence the importance of this rule. I’m working a co-op again this semester, so the weekend, untainted by looming assignment deadlines and midterms, is choice fruit ready for the picking. I just need to reach out and grab it.

2. Make activities social if possible.

Activities could be anything from bike rides, going to the beach, and gaming, to more mundane chores like grocery shopping. Really, this boils down to: why do something alone if it’s more enjoyable and memorable to do it with someone else? This rule also complements rule #1 in two important ways:

It supplements rule #1 as it allows for more social interaction during the busy workweek (five of the seven days a week don’t land on the weekend, after all).

It reinforces rule #1 because it’s much harder to bail on existing weekend plans if your friends are involved.

3. No tech (alone) past 9pm.

It’s summer—the sun is rising early, so why not take advantage of that and wake up early too? Probably the biggest barrier to this is excessive technology usage late into the night, so I’m setting 9pm as my digital curfew. I’ve set my laptop and phone to auto-shut off at 9pm. Meanwhile, my PC is packed away for good, sitting disassembled in the corner of my room. The only caveat to this rule: I can still use tech past 9pm as long as I’m in the presence of others. I don’t wanna say goodbye to that late-night Jackbox debauchery just yet ;).

4. Call home at least once a week.

Talking to your parents is one of the most straightforward social connections out there. I haven’t called home nearly enough since I moved out for college. I’m planning on changing that this summer.

5. Call first, then text.

I feel like so many plans have died merely because either I’m slow to text back, or someone else has been slow to text back. What could be a 2-minute conversation over the phone is dragged out into a 3-day ping-pong match of slow replies, which half the time amount to nothing—à la “never making it out of the group chat.”

At the end of the day, texts piling up on my phone have always just felt like a chore to take care of, almost like a mini-email. Talking more on the phone will help my conversation skills, too.

6. Write at least one blog post a week.

Finally, this blog has been kind of dead the past couple of months. I started this blog so that I could be less of a square and have some interesting opinions and objectives. Hopefully, I’ll write some cool stuff here in the coming months.

How well I’ll actually be able to follow these rules—only time can tell. I guess if things do go to plan, you’ll be hearing about my experience a few months from now in another post.

Godspeed. Ahren