Honestly, I blame “Phineas and Ferb.”
Growing up I would watch that show, sing the ridiculously catchy theme song, and dream about summer days spent going on wild adventures with my best friends. I romanticized it all—the long sunny days and warm nights, the feeling of time being so short, the intensity of everything. Summer was a fantasy to me, and every year throughout middle school and high school, I looked forward to a break from the woes of school, where I could just focus on time with my friends, being silly, and having fun.
However, when I graduated high school last June, summer took on a different tone. While it still symbolized freedom and sunshine, it started to feel like a ticking time bomb. In the past, the end of summer only meant going back to school with the same friends and spending every night sleeping in the same bed. But beginning last year, the end of summer meant moving away to college, saying goodbye to friends and family, and virtually everything changing. Summer felt so short, and there was a growing pressure to make the most out of every single moment I had.
Summer now brings me two huge stresses: 1. feeling like I need to show the world that I am doing something interesting and impressive, and 2. feeling like I have no time to see all of the people I want to see and do all of the things I want to do. The past feeling of being free to relax all summer has completely gone away. It now feels like a three month long resume booster. It feels like no matter what I am doing, I am wasting the precious time I have at home. I feel like I must be traveling the world, kicking ass at a summer internship, and/or partying with my friends every night until 3 a.m., just to prove to my friends from college and from high school that I am interesting and adventurous and to prove to myself that I’m not wasting any time.
Almost every day of my summer so far has consisted of waking up at 11 a.m., working at the mall, watching “Grey’s Anatomy,” and sitting in my friend’s basement. I feel like I have nothing exciting to post on social media and like I’m not having the same kind of adventures that my friends are having, but the truth is, I am using this summer to take a break from the busy schedule I have at school and focus on myself. My summer may seem boring and unimpressive, but I am spending my time doing things that make me happy, and by my definition, that is time well spent.
We all have the power to define our perfect summer. Summer really is short, and having to go back to college at the end of it makes it even worse, so it is important to do what you love. Regardless of how it makes me seem on social media, or when people ask me what I did this summer, I am going to continue my patterns of late nights at my friends' houses and late mornings watching Netflix. As long as I am making myself happy, I know I’m not wasting any time.
