A summer of purpose, wouldn’t that be ideal? This summer may not be quite what we planned…but perhaps, it’s what we need. While summer camp for the kids is canceled, visiting your parents in another state was put on hold, and jetting off for a honeymoon delayed until further notice, there is still time to salvage the season. Rather than focusing on what the global pandemic prevents us from doing, we can change our perspective to see possibility in every day. Our #SummerofPurpose campaign aims to do just that! It is geared at igniting purpose-driven action on the personal, social, and environmental level. It’s all about living each day with the intention of making a positive difference in any and every way you can—individually, as a family, a school, and community. Here’s what we encourage: choose three things, one from each pillar of responsibility, to integrate into your life his summer (and forever).
Personal Responsibility
Personal responsibility is about taking care of yourself on every level—it’s holding yourself accountable and committing to your own growth.
Ideas for personal responsibility include:
- Learn to meditate
- Commit to reading every day
- Exercise 5 days each week
- Go outside every day for at least 15 minutes
- Breathe fresh air and surround yourself with nature
- Eat a clean diet
- Limit your sugar and caffeine intake
- Speak kindly to yourself—no negative self-talk
- Start journaling
- Pick up a new hobby (painting, dancing, something that’s always interested you)
- Cultivate a new friendship
- Take a free online course to acquire a new skill or language
- Bring plants into your personal space. (They will help clean the air.)
- Drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility is about extending the care you have for yourself, to others. It’s about being kind, conscientious, giving back, and going out of your way whenever possible for someone else and society as a whole.
Ideas for social responsibility include:
- Educate yourself on social issues and share the info on social media and with those in your life
- Give blood, if you are able
- Volunteer for a cause you support
- Donate to a cause you support
- Do “random acts of kindness” every day (helping a family member, neighbor, stranger, etc.)
- Organize a community Zoom gathering to learn/address social issues in your area
- Register to vote and spread the word
- Educate yourself about bills, acts, and policies on the election ballot
- Reach out to your local representatives about pertinent bills
- Get involved with local organizations or local branches of national or international organizations, such as disaster relief agencies, NGOs, community reading programs and drives and more
Read More Ideas Here.
Environmental Responsibility
Environmental responsibility is creating a lifestyle that includes ecological habits.
Ideas for environmental responsibility include:
- Go plastic free
- Shop local
- Walk or bike when possible
- Carpool whenever you can
- Organize a beach, park, or neighborhood clean-up
- Switch to non-toxic cleaning products—personal, kitchen, laundry, household
- Repurpose and reuse whenever possible
- Shop second-hand and consignment
- Consider switching to alternative forms of energy (wind, solar, etc.)
- Take your go-cup everywhere and use it when you order coffee, tea, or other beverages
- Bring your own chopsticks to Asian restaurants
- Plant a tree
- Plant a garden
- Work in a community garden
- Buy fresh produce at the farmers’ market
- Shorten your showers to save water
- Keep a bucket in the shower and use the water collected in your garden or for your potted plants
If there was ever a time for a “Summer of Purpose” it’s now! Join us in making a positive difference for your personal life, for society, and for the planet this summer. And please, spread the word!
A Whole Person Makes the Whole World Better
