How To Turn Your Summer Into a Love Affair With Being Alive
25 ways to savor the season as your silly, sexy, sensory self
This weekend I went to New Jersey for a friend's annual backyard BBQ and pool party. It had just rained, and the air was thick with a blend of petrichor and charcoal smoke: earthy, primal, and potent.
While I made small talk and felt socially awkward, my daughter immediately claimed the pool as her kingdom, doing cannonballs and riding a pool noodle like a bucking bronco. Meanwhile, I'd made the mistake of not even bringing my bathing suit because I was too concerned about my unruly bikini line to fully show up for life.
Kids shrieked with delight in the pool, teenagers bounced on the trampoline, golden light filtered through dripping leaves… and it hit me: I'd been waiting for this all year. The summer season had arrived and here I was forfeiting a chance to dive into it.
Fortunately for us we get second chances to choose aliveness.
So I looked around at the party, took a deep breath, and chose to relish some of the seductive summer delights waiting for me to savor them. I devoured a juicy portobello burger with melted American cheese, licked the remnants of ice cream sandwich cookie off my sticky fingers, and when my daughter's favorite pop song came on, had a one-song dance party with her despite the fact that no one else was dancing. I started shedding my polite adult skin and stepping into something more unbridled.
As the sun went down and the adults drifted to a fire on the other side of the house, I found myself alone on an empty stretch of lawn, eyeing the zip line the kids had abandoned. In the gathering darkness, an ember inside me blazed and I said “fuck it.” I climbed up and rode that zip line over and over again, sensing the warm air brush my cheeks, my feet squelching in the mud with each trek up the hill, a huge grin on my face, tilted up towards the moon. There I was, a grown woman sailing through the dark on a children's toy, and it was truly fucking delightful.
Standing by the fire after with muddy feet and summer air in my lungs, I made a pact with myself: this summer, I choose messy joy over playing it safe.
And next time, I'm bringing my bathing suit and jumping in first.
The Art of Summer Aliveness
It's a crying shame how much boisterous, playful living we deprive ourselves of because we're worried about perfection, or looking foolish, or having a fuzzy bikini line. But here's what we know: we'll regret what we didn't do far more than what we did. So let's stop protecting ourselves out of actually living.
Summer is calling you to play: to get a little wild, a little messy, and to slow down and soak it up. Let your senses lead the way—taste the tart sweetness of ripe cherries, let grass tickle your toes, smell the lusciousness of a juicy peach, and chase the sensations that make you most human.
A summer love affair with being alive isn't about having the perfect body or the perfect plans. It's about embracing these essential truths:
Savor the temporal magic — Summer's fleeting nature makes every sensation more precious—collect them like rare gems before they disappear.
Lead with your senses — Let taste, touch, and smell guide your choices over your anxious mind. Your body knows how to find joy; your brain just needs to get out of the way.
Choose feral over refined — Mud between your toes beats perfectly pedicured feet. Wildness is not the opposite of beauty; it's the source of it.
Prioritize presence over perfection — The jiggly thighs get to swim. The awkward dancer gets to move. The imperfect moment gets to be lived fully.
It's time to loosen your grip on control and tighten your grip on delight. Your playful self has been waiting patiently all year for this moment. Don't keep them waiting any longer.
25 sensory joys for your summer want-to-do list:
Melt a chocolate bar in the sun and dip strawberries in it - Voila! Solar-powered fondue decadence
Lay outside under the stars — Experience awe and cosmic insignificance in the best possible way
Blow giant bubbles — Gather up a few supplies and create floating orbs of pure childhood magic
Have a summer fruit taste test — Pick the ripest, juiciest, most sumptuous selection from the fruit stand and spend focused time truly tasting them (or go all-out and give your fancy food critic commentary on each)
Go to a sweaty dance party — Sign your own permission slip to move freely, sweat profusely, and be gloriously present in your skin
Build a drip sandcastle — Dig your hands into the sand playing architect to a kingdom that'll be gone by high tide
Make (bad) art outside — Grab a blanket and make nature your art studio. Focus on the process over the outcome: draw a shadow, paint a flower, or do blind contour sketches of your friends
Have a silly jump competition into the pool — Give points for style, splash, and silliness and make aerial ridiculousness an Olympic sport
Bask in a sunset or sunrise — Get thee to a viewing spot and witness the daily miracle of light painting the sky
Float in a body of water — Eyes closed, chest to the sky, like a weightless human lily pad savoring the stillness
Seductively eat an ice cream cone — lol! Make vanilla scandalous (with or without an audience ;-)
Play cards in the park — Rummy with pals sprawled in the sunshine > Candy crush curled up by the light of your phone (Bonus points for learning a new game)
Listen to an insect symphony - The cricket orchestra is performing just for you
Fly a kite — Make the wind your play mate for an afternoon
Ride a bike through the park — with the wind in your hair and the world whizzing by
Make sun tea — Embrace in the slowness of letting the sun warm the gentlest brew
Touch the earth with bare toes — Ground yourself literally and figuratively
Smell a perfectly ripe tomato — Indulge in the scent that embodies summer abundance
Create art with sidewalk chalk — Turn pavement into your temporary canvas, with a side of hot asphalt smell
Make friendship bracelets like you're at summer camp — Craft tokens of connection with your hands
Run through a sprinkler (even if you’re fully clothed) — Shock your responsible adult self into remembering spontaneous glee
Follow fireflies — Be wowed by the royal wizards of the insect kingdom
Make a fort out of driftwood — Collaborate with nature on a creative project
Drive with the windows down, music up — Let the wind tousle your hair and sing along at the top of your lungs
Go night swimming — Soak up the magic of water sparkling under moonlight
What’s on your savoring summer list?
Your summer love affair with being alive starts now. What are you waiting for?
For conversations on creative living with a playful posse, join our subscriber chat where I’ll be sharing low-stakes prompts, creative challenges, and inspiration
there is no regret quite like not having a bathing suit when you come upon a chance to swim.
thank you for this precious reminder and great ideas.
A positively joyful read from top to bottom ❤️ thanks for the sweet reminders