I’m miserable. You’re miserable. We’re all miserable. Welcome to the Dog Days of Summer.

Every year when spring arrives and the temperatures start to heat up you can hear the collective chant, “I can’t wait for school to be out.” Every late summer when temperatures sizzle and kids are constantly under foot with everyone hibernating indoors and the A/C at full blast, you will then hear, “I can’t wait for school to start!” It’s awful to wish your life away but hard not to do when it is suffocating just to step out of your house, let alone in and out of your sweltering car. It is any wonder so many of us get so grumpy?

If the Dog Days of Summer have you down, give some of these tried and true ideas a chance to help you feel better.

• Get out of the house! Even if it’s just to go to the store or get an ice cream, take a housebound break.
• Refuse to feel guilty if you curl up with a trashy novel, take a nap, or watch an old movie.
• Jump on the internet and plan your next vacation. Give yourself something to look forward to and get excited about.
• Have an indoor family camping trip. Try an air-conditioned picnic on the floor followed by flashlight-face spooky stories in the dark. Boo!
• Initiate a game of indoor fetch with Fido. The dogs are bored, too. The cats are, however, fine.
• Hold off making any major decisions, if possible, until you feel your mood return to a better place.
• Enjoy downtime while you have it because it won’t last long.
• If instead of battling summer heat, you live where you are coping with winter blahs, change “A/C” to “furnace” and “ice cream” to “hot cocoa”. The list still works