“Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” - Robin Williams as teacher John Keating in Dead Poets Society
In the northern hemisphere, we’re smack dab in the thick of all things summer. It’s days of blue tongues from sticky ice pops, suburban sprinklers hosting a daily repertoire of happy campers, toes in the sand kind of beach days, tourists and travelers doing their things, and everywhere right now feels hotter than the sun. Those late-night sunsets holding space for concerts, evening wanders, and s’mores around the campfires. Somehow, summer’s scintillating magic feels like life on steroids. Days feel lighter, ice cream tastes sweeter, and every splash in a wave or jump in a pool elevates the world with joy.
Somehow, amidst all things going on everywhere, summer reminds us to hold tight to everyday, make the most of our 24 hours, and LIVE.
Students and teachers are running headfirst at life right now…the entire world now their informal classroom as they chase their dreams, play, grow, and connect. The feeling of life lived with passion and purpose, full freedom ahead - that’s the energy of summer.
How do you capture it?
A few weeks ago, I took myself on a different morning adventure. Seeking a new spot with epic views, Sunset Cliffs Natural Park the destination. Cliffside, sandy hills and scraggy points, seabirds, hues of natural rocks smash the backdrop of the Pacific, her blues, greens, and foamy whitecaps greeting all who enter. The scene in front of me complete with yogis, doggies, and humans straight up humaning. A man strumming his guitar. Surfers donning wetsuits, grabbing their boards. Laughter. A marriage proposal. A few photo sessions. Walkers. Vanlifers - one particular one who hoisted a pit smoker atop his truck, climbed up, drank his coffee, and began to grill breakfast while looking out at the clearest horizon. Joy personified on a clifftop in San Diego. If I could have bottled the feeling, I would have.
Those gifts, those life on fire kinda moments - that, that’s what it’s all about, right?
Living, doing our best amidst all the everything that is thrown at us, to experience that presence, that put your phone down and be in flow feeling, the ones that steady us, refuel us, make us laugh, and keep us coming back for more. How can we harness those feelings, the wild and free aura of my Sunset Cliff mates, and channel it into life beyond this free-spirited season?
Our attitude and perspective are always within our control. For most of the time at least, many of our choices are within our control. We can see exercise as, “we have to do it” or we get to do it.” We can see a walk in nature as something we “have to do for our health,” or something “we get to do for our health” and take the time to notice the awe around us. We can put our phones down, ditch the doomscroll, and shut out the triggering posts that keep us glued to our screens and instead choose to breathe the air, call a mate, watch a sunset, or find something to be grateful and joyful about in the day.
Perhaps that “while we’re alive – LIVE” vibration can be harnessed in an ice cream in September, a rug up in layers and have a picnic in October, a put on some tunes and sit in the backyard by the firepit s’mores night in November, and even a few minutes in the chilled air morning outdoor coffee date and savouring moments in December. Fireflies may hibernate in winter but the stars always share their sparkle. Sprinklers might be a no go when we’re neck deep in snow, but hotels and spas often offer day passes to use their pools and saunas to get your splash and sweat on. And heaps of cities now offer evening dining alfresco, some even in giant heated bubbles to continue your picnic meals year-round. Keep the freezer stocked with ice cream and ice pops, fling on some island-style melodies and theme night your living room mid-winter, and always remember to hold the free spirited vibes of summer’s magic close at heart.
Summer may be only one of our four seasons, but we can hold the sweet taste all year ‘round. Whether you’re wiggling to the music, getting your rest however you choose, making room for spontaneity, or the healing laughter of community, embrace the spirit of summer’s freedoms and remember to live loud all year long.
Tips and tricks to channel joys of summer far beyond the season
At the Seaside, Artist: William Merritt Chase, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Do your hard, scary thing
“Carpe diem! Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think.” - Horace
Were you as glued to the feeds as I was? Within minutes of finding it, I was feverishly invested in cheering Kelsey Pfendler as, in her words, she aimed to become the first American and youngest woman to row the mid-Pacific solo. SPOILER ALERT - SHE DID! Throughout her journey, through rough nights, hallucinations, and communing with her boat named Lily and a seabird who shared an evening’s rest with her, Kelsey documented her story and urged us all to do the thing that scares us, just like she did. She didn’t talk about courage and fortitude, she lived it. She didn’t have to tell us about intention, grit, or gravitas, she showed us. She didn’t have to share the ups and downs or doubts that often mingle with nervous excitement about big steps, she chose to.
When we get there in our own story, we’ve got hers to remind us others go through it, too. Kelsey tackled her mountain proving to us that ours is worth climbing. If we take anything from her successful journey, remember that spirit of adventure joined with determination and coupled with the heart of summer is a recipe for our own kind of magic. “Anyone's capable of doing their own big, hard, scary thing.” (Hawaii Public Radio)
Giggle and wiggle
“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” - Marcus Aurelius
Summer nights dancing to the music. Humans making castles, jumping in waves, wiggling their toes in the sand. Picnics and campfire stories. Outdoor movie nights and hiking trails. Summer is where we exhale, refill our cups, settle into that parasympathetic nervous system where calm breathing takes center stage, read books, travel, spend time with community, and in all sorts of ways, just be.
It’s where we begin again, regain the reins, reimagine our whys, and become the person we can be when the busyness of life stops moving for a minute. Capture it, harness it, reuse when needed.
If summer includes gratitude, laughter, and spontaneous adventure, the rest of the year can, too. Gratitude is always within our grasp, ours to embrace, and savour the good stuff of the day, the hour, the minute, or the month. Laughter is medicine, found within a movie, a comedy special, a call with a friend, or a few moments watching a puppy do, you know, puppy things. While the sun dips below the horizon earlier than the height of summer, the gratitude and laughter of the sun-filled season is available year-round. It’s up to us to use it well.
Make room for spontaneous adventure
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” - Oscar Wilde
“Let’s get coffee.” “Meet you at the beach.” “Want to hit a farmer’s market?” “Can we go camping?”
Spontaneous outings are often synonymous with summer fun. Pick up the kids and head to the theme park. Grab takeout and watch the sunset. Stay up past bedtime to finish that book. Click purchase on the last-minute campsite. Stumble on a farmer’s market and outdoor music venue. Perhaps we find it easier to make room for spontaneity when all the chaos of life has ebbed and we’ve found our grounding. Perhaps without the constructs of school and lessons and busy seasons of doing, we give ourselves the breadth and space to breathe - and realize that life is for the living and our work life balance needs readjusting.
If we feel it, our young adventurers do, too. Can we reshuffle the deck after the season’s close to ensure we make room for whatever the version of fireflies, fire pits, and fun might look like in other months of the year? Can we find time for those impromptu outings, the late-night wanderings, or the weekend excursions that refuel our souls and realign our chakras? Can we remind ourselves that life is for the living and give ourselves permission to leave the dishes in the sink or do the project later? A bunch of small adventures or unplanned fun memory making matters more than we might think. Joy making in the midst of all the things - it’s essential to a life well lived.
Harness the flicker of fireflies
“Cause a little bit of summer is what the whole year is all about.” - John Mayer
As a kid growing up on Long Island (NY), summer evenings held the sparkle of fireflies. Barefoot on the grass, kids would hold their hole punched plastic cup aloft hoping to catch a shimmering friend for a moment. Cover the cup, and watch the whole world light up in your hand, then kindly release your flying mate to continue their adventure of the night. Pure bliss! My husband calls them ‘nature’s little flashlights’ - he never saw them before coming to New York, and the glee on his grown face at first sighting tells you all you need to know about the magic and joys of summer.
While I imagine fireflies (or lightning bugs) and their glittery bits take a recharging season when the nights grow colder, can we adopt that same sense of glee and free-spirited joy at other times throughout the year? It takes a moment to settle your eyes to the darkness and hunt for the lights. If we’re lucky to have those moments, can we train ourselves to use them for similar glee seeking year ‘round?
Can we remember to channel those evenings where we fling open the door and run with reckless abandon to capture the flicker of fireflies? Whatever brings you bliss, joy, and utter delight - schedule it, calendar it, ensure to take time and stock of those things and do them more. Find your own sparkle and shine it brightly - perhaps then the fireflies will find you, too.
Fireflies at Ochanomizu, Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika. Wikimedia Commons: LACMA
Please click the photo below for a collection of my Through the Eyes of an Educator columns:
Stacey Ebert, our Educational Travels Editor, is a traveler at heart who met her Australian-born husband while on a trip in New Zealand. Stacey was an extracurricular advisor and taught history in a Long Island public high school for over fifteen years, enjoying both the formal and informal educational practices. After a one year 'round the world honeymoon, travel and its many gifts changed her perspective. She has since left the educational world to focus on writing and travel. She is energetic and enthusiastic about long term travel, finding what makes you happy and making the leap. In her spare time she is an event planner, yogi, dark chocolate lover, and spends as much time as possible with her toes in the sand.
Check out her website at thegiftoftravel.wordpress.com for more of her travel musings.