School starts next week. How did this happen?
I am sad that I feel like we wasted the summer, but at the same time, far too blah and tired and generally discouraged to do anything about it. I’m not depressed or anything like that, but I just have such a lack of enthusiasm about everything. The shutdown is dragging me down for sure.
On social media and on blogs I still see people out enjoying their summers, with hikes and trips to the beach and lush produce from their garden and kayaks and cottages. But they only make me feel trapped. I made a list about a month ago of places we could maybe go during the shutdown, driving trips and outdoor spots to explore. But they didn’t excite me – I felt like I was doing it out of obligation to Summer Fun – we didn’t get around to doing any of them. We all just wanted to lie around on the couch eating donuts and watching TV.
I feel like I’ve wasted these past several months when we could have been doing fun at-home projects, or bonding as a family, or exploring the local terrain, or at least appreciating the ability to easily get outdoors before winter seals us in like a tomb.
But instead I frittered away my creativity on Netflix, and I lost the summer weather by hiding inside, and I gave up on family bonding and let my kids run free with screens while I just worked.
I’m looking forward to getting back on a school routine. But I’m not sure it will jump start my enthusiasm for …well, anything. But at least the fall weather will mean change, and change is something new, and something new is hopeful.
TurtleHead 
I feel this way at the end of every single summer – like I didn’t really make the most of it. This one was especially hard. I feel like we could have done way more, but didn’t have the energy or the drive. There’s always next summer though, right? And with teens – well you know, it’s just not the same…
You and your family survived the summer with your health. Let the summer outings go.
We are a family that is generally busy, so this summer was an adjustment. At some point we decided to treat this summer like a long cottage vacation. Which was really just a lot of sitting around together, a lot of puzzles, colouring, binge watching movie series and tv series, board games and such. That’s what felt right and the best approach for two parents who were still working out of the house full time and two kids stuck at home together full time. Instagram comparing and looking back in regret are a fool’s errand. If you managed and everyone came through happy and with their health, I’d chock it up as a win.
xoxoxo
Or maybe you actually are slightly depressed, with good reason? You didn’t fritter anything away, you did the best with the circumstances you were facing.