I’ve said it thousands of times, working in the dental field is one of the best jobs. Your team is fun, your patients adore you, and you work in air conditioning. But being in an office all day does make it feel like summer just slips by.
Well, I do believe Alan Jackson when he says “There aint no cure for the summertime blues”. But I do believe we can help summertime depression not be so intense. As someone who greatly suffers from these blues, here are my tips for dental professionals to cure their summertime blues.
#1 Get outside daily
Eat your lunch outside or go for a walk in the evening once the sun starts to set. Getting at least 30 minutes of outside time does wonders for your overall mental health.
#2 Use your weekends for fun
Sometimes after a rough or long workweek, you just want to veg inside your house binging Netflix. Which is awesome. But when the sun is shining outside, forcing yourself to stay inside might make you feel more bummed out than restored. So use your weekends to go on hikes, the beach or lake, bbq with friends and family. You will find that at the end of the weekend you feel completely refreshed and ready to head back to work.
#3 Use that PTO
First, let me say that every dental office should be giving their team paid time off. Secondly, your office should not give you any crap for using your paid time off. If you don’t get paid time off or your office fights you anytime you try to use it, then head to DirectDental and start looking for a new job.
Ok, now that that is said, let’s talk about using your PTO. Figure out what makes you feel like you made the most of your summer. Some people like 1 big trip where they can unwind for an extended period of time and do something fun and far away. While others simply enjoy weekend staycations. Whichever you prefer, plan to use your PTO for that.
I enjoy long weekends during my summer months, so this summer I used my PTO to take every Friday off in July and the first 2 weeks of August. The weekly 3 day weekends have done wonders for my soul.
#4 Do summertime events and activities
There are some things your community only does during the summer. Like movies or concerts in the park, certain markets, the fair. Make sure you check in with you local community calendar so you don’t miss out on fun activities you can only do 3 months out of the year.
#5 Enjoy the warm nights
Warm nights are in my opinion the best thing about summer. So enjoy your nightly glass of wine outside. Or have the family eat dinner in the backyard. Spend some time star gazing. Just make sure to use mosquito repellent.
#6 Have fun with your team
Most people feel like only they are having summertime blues, but I’m sure everyone gets them. So while you are in the office, try to have fun with your team. Tell funny jokes or hold mini scavenger hunts. Talk with your boss about maybe having someone host a potluck BBQ for the team. Remembering that your team is all in this together, will help get through these summertimes blues.
I hope most of you are already doing all these fun things, but if you needed the reminder (I often do), here it is. Enjoy your summer. It goes by too quickly.
Smiles,
Holli Perez
DirectDental
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