You ever wake up on a Monday and just know in the pit of your stomach, the ache in your knees, the existential sigh before your first cup of coffee—that the week ahead is going to be long? Like…crawling-through-wet-cement long?

That was me this week. Before I even had my first super creamed-cheesed bagel, I felt it. The week was looming large like a heatwave that forgot to check if anyone had central air. And, as a psychologist with a calendar full of meetings, strategy sessions, existential crises (my own and others’), I realized I needed to come up with a plan. A survival strategy.

Step one: take it one day at a time. Revolutionary, right? But I went even more granular: break each day into phases: morning fog, midday madness, afternoon fatigue, and evening exhale. Like emotional weather patterns, I prepped accordingly.

Step two: I became my own personal cheerleader. Not in a pom-poms-and-splits kind of way, but with inner pep talks like:
1. “You got this, Mimi. Just three more Zooms and then you can eat carbs again.”
2. “Smile. Nod. Use phrases like ‘circle back’ and ‘value-add’ and you might just survive this meeting.”
3. “That email doesn’t need to be answered today. Or ever.”

And let me remind you it’s just the beginning of summer. Isn’t this season supposed to be lighter? Sun-soaked ease? Sprinklers and sangria and maybe a stolen nap? Instead, it feels like summer decided to show up with sweaty pressure, tangled deadlines, and relentless humidity.

Maybe that’s adulthood. Maybe that’s capitalism. Maybe it’s just June pretending to be July. Either way, the days are long, the to-do list longer, and yet somehow, here I am still standing, still caffeinating, still strategizing.

So if you’re reading this and feeling like the week is dragging you along like a toddler with a toy wagon you are not alone. Get your metaphorical plunger, unclog that mental drain, phase out your day, and be your own hype squad. Summer may not be easy, but you? You are built for long weeks and deep sighs and witty inner monologues.