Remember what it felt like when you were eight years old?
Out beyond our backyard, there was a creek, a ravine, and maybe 5 acres of an abandoned apple orchard with woods and a stream with a Tarzan swing that the older boys on our street had strung up. They also built a treehouse near the stream so they could swing out over it.
Summers were for playing and exploring.
Back then, we were all free-range kids. You just had to be back in time for dinner. No questions asked. My mom would go out on the back porch and ring the dinner bell to get us all home.
What I remember most about summers was the feeling of the days stretching out in front of you. That there was plenty of time to explore wildflowers, beetles, and bugs.
And the library’s bookmobile would stop by. The older librarians in it (they seemed ancient back then but were probably my age now) seemed to know everything about what each one of us might want to read.
All summer long there were worlds to make and draw and build.
So how is it that summers now are always so short? We do our best to squirrel away a few weeks of vacation, but most of us never fully unplug. So we forfeit that feeling of days stretching out in front of us and that delicious sense of possibility, of being enveloped in nature.
Let me ask you: This summer, how will you renew your spirit?
Because I guarantee you that your eight-year-old self is waiting in the wings.
Though you’ve tried your best to leave them behind, to become the adult you believed you had to be, your eight-year-old self hasn’t given up on you. Even with all your damned adult to-do lists and accomplishments, your eight-year-old has been waiting for you to wake up and come out to play.
This summer, I’m experimenting. I want my creative work, my whole life, to include that eight-year-old self.
Because I believe that we’re all intended to be whole. That we can be responsible, yes, and still honor our very human needs for wonder and play.
If you want help figuring out what your eight-year-old self is asking for, and how to actually make room for it, let’s talk. Book a conversation here.
To your better summer,
Dream big, Plan smart, Live well
PS: For a little extra incentive, here’s Ella Fitzgerald singing Gershwin’s Summertime.
