447: Stop Surviving and Start Living Before Summer Passes You By (Summer Shift Week 1)

Kevin Lowe: We had the big, long three-day weekend. The unofficial start to summer just occurred.

Kevin Lowe: And here's what I want to propose is if we're diving into the summer season, why don't we make the most of it?

Kevin Lowe: What if we can make this summer not just another blurry season, not just another thing that happens in life, but what if we really lived out the next three months with intention?

Kevin Lowe: If we work together to not only get a suntan, but to maybe work on ourselves, to be able Be sure that we start treating life like it's meant to be.

Kevin Lowe: Living, loving, enjoying life again. Not just living in survival mode.

Kevin Lowe: And so, my friend, if you are thinking to yourself that this sounds appealing, well, awesome.

Kevin Lowe: Because today, we are kicking off week number one of what I'm calling the Summer Shift.

Kevin Lowe: It is the summer series here on Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, all starting with today's episode, episode 447, where we are switching from survival mode into thriving in life.

Kevin Lowe: Now, in case you are new here, well, first and foremost, welcome to the podcast.

Kevin Lowe: I am your host, Kevin Lowe, and this, of course, is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration, the podcast that is always here to give you a fresh perspective on life coming to you today.

Kevin Lowe: With this whole hope of just inspiring you to get out there and love life again.

Kevin Lowe: So today is week number one.

Kevin Lowe: And yes, I did say this is a 12-week series.

Kevin Lowe: So over the next three months, I'm going to make it my point to show up here every week.

Kevin Lowe: I know it's summer.

Kevin Lowe: There's a lot going on. But you know what? I feel like I need you to hold me to it.

Kevin Lowe: Hold my feet to the fire. Keep me showing up every week here with you.

Kevin Lowe: I've got the next 12 weeks all planned out, content all designed to help you move the needle forward in your life.

Kevin Lowe: These are going to be quick episodes, solo episodes, just me speaking to just you, where we can spend the summer together growing, becoming bigger, better versions of us.

Kevin Lowe: That is what I'm here to do this summer, to be sure that me and you both make the most out of this summer season.

Kevin Lowe: So in diving into today's topic, this idea of switching from surviving to thriving.

Kevin Lowe: We have to first understand the difference between the two.

Kevin Lowe: Basically, the way I like to think of it, survival mode, it's basically you asking yourself the question, how do I make it through? How do I get through the day?

Kevin Lowe: Whereas thriving, well, you get to ask yourself, what do I get to do with this day?

Kevin Lowe: Not how do I make it through, but what do I get to do with today?

Kevin Lowe: What am I going to make out of the time that I have in this day?

Kevin Lowe: Me and you both know we only have 24 hours in a day.

Kevin Lowe: The way that we make it last a little longer is by being sure that we live it with intention, that we choose to live it out the way that we want to live it.

Kevin Lowe: Instead of allowing life to dictate how we live our life, we can choose how we live our life.

Kevin Lowe: Now, when we talk about survival mode, I feel like so many of us, we just get stuck in this idea of living out life.

Kevin Lowe: Now, I'm calling it survival mode. Maybe it's also just kind of known as the normal day-to-day monotony of life. You go through the motions. You do the routine.

Kevin Lowe: You don't think about anything. You're basically living on autopilot.

Kevin Lowe: But day after day, week after week, season after season, they just come and they go.

Kevin Lowe: And what are we left to do at the end of the year?

Kevin Lowe: Ask ourselves that same question. Where did the year go?

Kevin Lowe: Why is time gone so fast? It's because we've not been living with intention.

Kevin Lowe: We've been living on autopilot.

Kevin Lowe: We've not been paying attention to anything that we've been doing.

Kevin Lowe: So what I want to do in this summer season is to draw your focus back to life again.

Kevin Lowe: Instead of you putting the car on cruise control, I want you to think of this as you're back old school, manual transmission.

Kevin Lowe: You've got to make the intention on which gear you're selecting, shifting from first to second, second to third, slamming the gears, making it go.

Kevin Lowe: You are in the driver's seat of life, and this is your choice.

Kevin Lowe: So what this looks like in these summer months, it's you beginning to pay attention to the little things.

Kevin Lowe: It's the beautiful sunsets that we only get in the summer months.

Kevin Lowe: It's the beautiful sunrise on your way to work, something that typically you might just think of as an annoyance because it's the sunlight shining in and you put your little visor down, put on your sunglasses, try to block it out.

Kevin Lowe: Instead, I want you to focus on it. I want you to pay attention to it.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to turn up the radio in your car.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to roll the windows down. Yeah.

Kevin Lowe: When is the last time that you drove through town with the radio blasting and the windows down?

Kevin Lowe: Yes, my friend. Now, hey, listen, you can still have the AC on.

Kevin Lowe: There is nothing wrong with that But roll those windows down You got a sunroof?

Kevin Lowe: Open that baby up Let yourself be alive Feel alive Embrace this time of year.

Kevin Lowe: Basically, we're going to switch from this idea of watching life happen to instead remembering that we're in it and we're not watching a movie.

Kevin Lowe: We're not watching life happen for everyone else. We get to choose to make life happen for us.

Kevin Lowe: When we start to notice these little things, when we start to pay attention, we can begin to switch from surviving to thriving.

Kevin Lowe: Now, the fact is true, is that in life, survival mode is something that has become so normal. It's almost a rite of passage.

Kevin Lowe: We all almost tried to bond over the idea of survival mode, the monotony of life.

Kevin Lowe: It's like we wear it like a badge of honor.

Kevin Lowe: This idea that, oh, yeah, just another week, just another dollar.

Kevin Lowe: How many times do you hear people say that? when you ask them, hey, how's it going?

Kevin Lowe: It's just same old thing.

Kevin Lowe: We all do it, but we got to stop doing it.

Kevin Lowe: And that is what today is about. It's about inspiring you to stop doing it and to start living, start thriving, to stop moving out of boring survival and into living again.

Kevin Lowe: And here's the serious note. You can accidentally survive your entire life without ever actually living it.

Kevin Lowe: And I think for right now, the start of summer, it's our time.

Kevin Lowe: It's our choice to change it. And here's the reason why.

Kevin Lowe: There's something about summer that slows things down, whether you intentionally do it or not.

Kevin Lowe: Life just starts to move at a little bit slower pace.

Kevin Lowe: It literally just has this way, summer does, of waking you up.

Kevin Lowe: Now, maybe it's because the air is a little bit thicker.

Kevin Lowe: You open the door and you get hit with that humidity, the heat.

Kevin Lowe: And I get it. I'm not a big fan of the heat and humidity, not at all.

Kevin Lowe: But I've been trying to focus on embracing it.

Kevin Lowe: Heck, I live here in Florida. We've already been in summer for months.

Kevin Lowe: The rest of you in the rest of the country and world, y'all are just playing catch up.

Kevin Lowe: But what I've been trying to do Is to not open the door And immediately dread what I feel And think to myself My gosh, I just want summer over And instead to realize Hey, you know what?

Kevin Lowe: Learn to love it for what it is We only get this season once a year Might as well figure out a way to enjoy it So if it's sunny out Well, put on a hat Give yourself a little bit of shade Wear something cool Get out those clothes that have the certain material That is a little bit cooler than the thick cotton Do what you can to let yourself enjoy the season that we're in.

Kevin Lowe: And here's the powerful thing about this time of year.

Kevin Lowe: You're going to have opportunities to get out of the house and get to do things.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to do those things. I want you to step out of what is routine, what is comfortable, what is normal.

Kevin Lowe: And I want you to just go for it, to try it. Instead of scrolling through Facebook and looking at what everybody else is doing, I want you to just get out there and do it.

Kevin Lowe: Plan a trip to the park, to the springs.

Kevin Lowe: Now I get it. It's summer. It's hot. So water is a necessity.

Kevin Lowe: And no, I'm not talking about water you drink. I'm talking about water that you swim in, you play in.

Kevin Lowe: It's a water park. It's a spring. It's an ocean. It's a swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: Wherever you go, you got to embrace the water, my friend. That is what makes living in the summer fun and enjoyable.

Kevin Lowe: Embrace that inner fish that you've been hiding away.

Kevin Lowe: And every step that you do this, every time that you say yes, when normally you'd say no, you start getting to thrive again in life.

Kevin Lowe: You get to start taking control of life.

Kevin Lowe: Instead of allowing life to just pass by, instead you're embracing it.

Kevin Lowe: You're living it. You're loving it.

Kevin Lowe: And in this idea of thriving, switching from survival mode to thriving in life, I want you to understand that I'm not talking about thinking that everything is going to be perfect and easy.

Kevin Lowe: And I don't want you to think that I'm acting like we're all on some massive summer vacation. No, I get it.

Kevin Lowe: Even over the next three months, the hardest summer, we all got to just do normal life.

Kevin Lowe: You got to go to work. You got to pay bills. You got to go to the grocery store. And I get that.

Kevin Lowe: But instead, what I'm saying is, is that we can all make a choice to start living with intention, to start choosing to focus on the little things.

Kevin Lowe: The little things become the big things.

Kevin Lowe: And when you start doing this, you start protecting your energy.

Kevin Lowe: You start protecting your personality. You get to start remembering who you are and why you love life.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, if you don't love life, then you got to figure out a way to make some changes in your life.

Kevin Lowe: Because life is short. Every one of us, we only get so many days in a life.

Kevin Lowe: And, you know, you want to really get serious for you who maybe you have children?

Kevin Lowe: You only get 18 summers with your kids before they're gone and out of the house.

Kevin Lowe: 18 summers. Think of it like that. that if you're a parent or you're a grandparent and you have kids, 18 summers, that's it.

Kevin Lowe: After 18 summers, they're off to college. They're off living life.

Kevin Lowe: So my friend, right now is your wake-up call to be sure that you're making the most out of this moment right now.

Kevin Lowe: Now, I want to give you a couple of little examples, some ideas, because I get it.

Kevin Lowe: Sometimes we think of this and we think, well, that's great, but I have life.

Kevin Lowe: I have normal schedules that I have to contend with. We have all the normal stuff of life that gets in the way.

Kevin Lowe: Typically, a lot of people get to do a summer vacation, but that's maybe one week out of the summer. What do you do the rest of the time?

Kevin Lowe: To embrace this idea of thriving.

Kevin Lowe: Well, here's a few ideas for you.

Kevin Lowe: First idea, I don't know if you have Publix where you live, but here in Florida, Publix is a big deal.

Kevin Lowe: And everybody knows that there's nothing more iconic than a Publix sub.

Kevin Lowe: Some people call them a Pub sub. I've never gotten into that trend.

Kevin Lowe: I just stick with Publix sub.

Kevin Lowe: So my first idea, it's summer. Instead of rushing home and doing your normal thing for dinner, why not maybe once a week, once every couple of weeks, say, hey, you know what?

Kevin Lowe: We're going to just pick up some public subs for dinner and we're going to go eat at the park.

Kevin Lowe: We're just going to go chill out, hang out. If you're lucky enough to live near a beach, maybe you just grab the sub for dinner and go grab a picnic table by the beach and do dinner that way.

Kevin Lowe: It's not a big thing. It doesn't take planning.

Kevin Lowe: It's basically the idea for when you haven't planned out your dinner, you don't know what you're doing.

Kevin Lowe: Just go grab a public sub and go to the park.

Kevin Lowe: The weekend, I want you to find a friend with a swimming pool.

Kevin Lowe: Pitch the idea of doing a pool party. Or maybe you have a swimming pool, but you never use it.

Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, it is time to use it.

Kevin Lowe: Spend the week being sure that it's looking good.

Kevin Lowe: You've gone out. You've got the necessary pool supplies. You've got the chlorine.

Kevin Lowe: You got it sparkling. Come Saturday morning, invite some friends over and have a pool party.

Kevin Lowe: Hang out. Cook out. Do some burgers and hot dogs while everybody gets to swim in the pool.

Kevin Lowe: Another idea for you, embrace the season.

Kevin Lowe: When you go grocery shopping, pick up a big juicy watermelon.

Kevin Lowe: Not the pre-cut up kind I know. We all just default to the easy.

Kevin Lowe: I'm talking about going old school, my friend.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to grab the big whole watermelon. The one that requires you to come home, you got to chill it down.

Kevin Lowe: You put it in the cooler, packed in ice, get it super cold.

Kevin Lowe: And then, perfect opportunity. It's Saturday, Sunday. You're all out by the pool.

Kevin Lowe: Everybody's hot. Well, baby, you want to be the MVP of the day?

Kevin Lowe: You bust out some watermelon.

Kevin Lowe: Get that icy cold watermelon out of the cooler and cut that thing open.

Kevin Lowe: Man, that is summer, right? there.

Kevin Lowe: It's the little things. It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Kevin Lowe: It's just little ways of intentionally embracing the season.

Kevin Lowe: I said it earlier, the idea of turning up the music, writing with the windows down.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, that is summer right there. You have a little Kenny Chesney blaring on the radio, bumping them speakers, windows down, sunroof open, sunglasses on.

Kevin Lowe: Man, that right there is embracing life. That is forgetting about all the crap that you're dealing with, all the struggles, the worries, the anxieties.

Kevin Lowe: And just living in the moment. And something powerful happens when we all begin to do this. Time slows down.

Kevin Lowe: The days last a little longer. The memories stick.

Kevin Lowe: The memories are made. Because we haven't just let another season waste away, but instead we began to embrace it, to love it.

Kevin Lowe: And that, my friend, is what I want for you.

Kevin Lowe: So today was just basically me wanting to inspire you to think differently, to do differently, to step out of what is comfortable, what is routine, and to do something fun.

Kevin Lowe: Yes, my friend, it is the season of fun.

Kevin Lowe: So I want you to have a little bit of fun.

Kevin Lowe: Now, listen, if you are game for more content like this, Well, my friend, keep tuning in.

Kevin Lowe: If you have not already subscribed or followed the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you can also now find the podcast even on YouTube, but do not get excited. There is no video.

Kevin Lowe: It is just still audio, but it's just another place that you can find the podcast.

Kevin Lowe: So please be sure that you hit the follow button or the subscribe button, because as As I said earlier, I'm going to be here with you throughout the summer, doing what I can to bring you content designed to help you make the most of this season.

Kevin Lowe: So with that said, my friend, this is week number one of our 12 week series called The Summer Shift.

Kevin Lowe: So you keep showing up. I'll keep showing up.

Kevin Lowe: And in the meantime, hey, get out there and work on that suntan.

Kevin Lowe: And be sure that you don't forget a little bit of sunscreen because nobody wants a sunburn.

Kevin Lowe: Until next time, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this was Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Podcast Outro: Summer's Our Song by K-Lowe Music