Summer Instructions

A completely unofficial guide.

I don’t think you’re supposed to tiptoe into summer.

Summer asks for something different.

It asks you to arrive with your heart wide open on the very first morning of June.

To forget, at least for a while, about embarrassment, about whether something is “appropriate,” about what other people might think, and to let yourself live the version of life you’ve been quietly imagining all year.

Maybe that looks like sunrise runs and sleepy morning walks.

Maybe it’s photographing the sky every evening just because it’s beautiful.

Maybe it’s dancing, traveling, and saying yes more often.

Or maybe it’s much smaller than that.

Picnics in your backyard. Homemade lemonade. Toasting marshmallows over a fire. Spending longer outside. Reading books you’ve been putting off. Picking up a hobby you’ve always been curious about.

Maybe it’s all of those things.

Maybe it’s something different every single day.

Summer moves too quickly to spend it waiting for the perfect moment or worrying whether you’re doing it right.

By the time the leaves have fallen and the first snow covers the ground, all that’s left is what you chose to notice.

And only you get to decide how much warmth this summer leaves behind in your memories.

If you could give yourself just one instruction for this summer, what would it be?