THE INSIDE SCOOP

Can you believe it’s already the Fourth of July? Last time I checked, I was writing about the necessity of sunscreen in the dark weeks of winter, and now here we are, smack dab in the middle of summer.

As we all know, the heat can have interesting and not altogether pleasant effects on a person:  The need for ice cream, day and night.  And the overwhelming desire to listen to, at top volume, whatever “song of summer” currently is playing in heavy rotation (my vote for the season: “Meyrin Fields” by Broken Bells exclusively via, Pandora which blissfully allows me to listen to this song, ad nauseam, in every room of my house and control it all through my iPhone. Sheer genius, I tell you.).

The summer heat—and more specifically, the sun—has a much more profound effect on me: I become a broken record. As you know, I bang my drum for protection in the face of the sun all year long, but it really kicks into high gear post Memorial Day. And with the Fourth right around the corner, and the outdoor activity about to ramp up, you can bet that my husband, my kids, and even our family black lab is going to be running for cover from my UV-rant. And it doesn’t only have to do with the heat: My biggest struggle right now as Supergoop! continues to grow by leaps and bounds is my inability to turn off the aforementioned suncare-a-thon to allow for all of the other life experiences to go deeper than the epidermis. All this makes for an extremely boring friend, wife, and mother when a well-educated woman physically cannot find anything else to talk about outside of that one thing (whether it’s sunscreen or your kids or your golf game) that she considers herself pretty good at. Sometimes, I even bore myself with all of the nattering.

And, of course, this is the place where I could go on about how excessive exposure to the sun not only causes wrinkles but also increases your risk for developing skin cancer. And I could remind you that prevention is as simple as adding a single step to your morning routine (moisturizer first, followed by sunscreen, and then, if you’re so inclined, your makeup). Instead: I am challenging myself and you, to take the initiative to dampen the constant verbal stream of consciousness and to allow yourself to experience, learn, evolve a little bit more, and at the risk of sounding like a complete dork, commit to a small change that will make all of us a more exciting, more interesting person. If that means going on a hike with your brother instead of answering your emails, or taking that cell phone–free vacation with your family, or making a pact with yourself to do one thing to make you a healthier, better you (daily sun protection, perhaps?), then stop procrastinating and just do it. And don’t think I would just give you these marching orders and abandon you: I’d like to hear what your chosen summer experience is, and start a conversation, so write me at holly@supergoop.com. I’ll be happy to hear that I inspired even one person, aside from myself, to change things up in their lives.

Trust me when I say that turning off the chatter to turn on your whole mind and body will make us all better friends, better wives, better mothers, and more interesting human beings. You’ll thank me for it, I promise.  :)