Enjoy the 2,352 hours of summer

A lot of little adventures can fit in 14 weeks

In the United States, today is Memorial Day, which — in addition to honoring our veterans and their sacrifices — is the unofficial start of summer. Sometimes classes end and work schedules change. Beaches open and people start grilling more regularly.

Summer has a different vibe … which can sometimes lead to hard feelings if you’re not doing much different. You might still be going into your office 40 hours a week. Maybe you took most of your PTO over the holidays so you don’t have any big vacations planned.

I get it. But even without big adventures on the horizon, summer can be full of little adventures. There are 14 weeks from Memorial Day to Labor Day (the unofficial end of summer). That is 2,352 hours. Even if you’re working a lot, you can still squeeze in a lot of fun if you’re intentional about it.

The leisure budget

First, it helps to realize how much time there still is. If you sleep 8 hours a night (784 hours over 14 weeks), and work 40 hours for each of those 14 weeks (that’s 560 hours, and a little less if you take July 4th off), you’ve got 1,008 hours of waking, non-working time to play with.

That’s likely enough time to take three trips to your nearest body of water (90 minutes each way to the beach for me!) on a few weekend days and enjoy some sunshine.

That’s likely enough time to go for half a dozen evening bike rides on a nearby trail — while it’s light until 9 p.m.

That’s likely enough time to go pick peaches at a farm on a Sunday July afternoon, or have a Wednesday evening picnic at a nearby park. It’s enough time to go to a Friday night concert or a beer garden, and enough time to see the fireworks some evening in a nearby town. It’s definitely enough time to eat ice cream for lunch some day just because!

Make a plan

The key to making the most of those 1,008 hours is to think through what would feel like a treat, and think about when you can fit it in. Would it be more fun to go spend a month in the Swiss Alps, or visit six National Parks, or other such summer plans I’ve seen posted on social media lately? Well perhaps — but memories are memories either way. You can make a lot of memories inviting the neighbors over for a backyard BBQ on a Monday night, and make the most of summer at the same time.