Make time for boredom, because boredom breeds creativity
Always have a punnet of fruit and a paperback book at the ready
Write out all your plans in felt tip pens and draw a border around them, bucket list style
Send ‘I love you’ texts to random people who you love but don’t usually tell
Spend an afternoon at a book shop and come home with a pile of books. Put them on your bedside table and read through them, one by one, as the summer goes on
Add whimsy to everything. A little sprinkle goes a long way.
Barbecued halloumi, Appletiser with ice and the phrase ‘no but can I be mean for a sec?’
Take your watercolour paints to the beach
Ice cream every day
Get excited about thunder storms and peeling oranges and the idea that you get to exercise, because you have a body that can move (!!)
Say yes when you’d usually say no (spontaneity is the word of the summer)
Wear whatever the fuck you want
Move in ways that make you feel FLEXIBLE and also like a child again. Cartwheels. Childs poses. Happy baby. Hand stands.
Caesar salad, sweet potato fries, Aperol spritzes, glitter on your eyelids and cheeks
Sleepovers (let’s bring them back !!!)
Passionfruit on everything (and passion for everything)
Put grapes in the freezer and eat them one by one like boiled sweets
Actually hang up your phone when you get home. (This has been on my wish list for literal months).
Tits out, toes out (take off your bra and your shoes at every given opportunity)
Swim whenever you can
Keep every receipt and piece of ‘junk’ and stick them on a piece of A4 paper. At the end of the summer you can frame it as a souvenir
Cold showers + cold plunges + fresh water swimming
Weekly flowers (a must)
Listen to the birds! They usually have something really quite important to say
Dance all the time, kiss more than occasionally
Choose a creative project and work on it, little by little, every single week
White linen is chic and cool in more ways than one
‘I Worried’ by Mary Oliver is my song of the summer. (And no, I won’t elaborate further)
Get comfortable with yourself, in every way: let yourself be alone. Fall in love with the self that you are, right now, instead of the self you think you ‘should’ be. Trace the streaks of stretch marks with your fingertips and remind yourself that you wouldn’t be the strong, remarkable self you are now without them.
Summer can make you confront all the parts of you that society tries to change: those beautiful curves; the freckles that chart your individuality like a fingerprint; the arms that have carried every single box when you last moved house and your best friend through heartbreak and yourself through every single terrible day you’ve ever lived. Your existence is, in itself, remarkable. It is sexy to dance naked and let yourself jiggle; to hide indoors with the fan all day because you actually kind of hate the heat and this is what self-love looks like to you. This summer will be what you make of it: let it grow from self-acceptance, and a wish for whimsy and laughter and love, as opposed to self-criticism. This, in a world that seeks to make you feel lesser-than is, itself, a radical act.
In conclusion: may your pillow always be cool.
May you watch at least one peach-honey sunset. May you let yourself accept your imperfect body and dive into this summer with the knowledge that we only get a few, in this precious life, and this is yours, and isn’t that wonderful?
Cool Girls Who Aren’t Competing In The Ozempic Olympics (bc the hyperlinks don’t work!):
If you’re experiencing any kind of illness, or tragedy that weighs you down, each and every day, may you give yourself grace. May you allow yourself the compassion to take each day as it comes. To get excited, nevertheless, about the perfect iced latte you’ve learned to make at home, or the toddler blowing bubbles as you try and get to the pharmacy. May you find one evening in which to eat sushi and watch love island and drink a really cold glass of something you love. May you send a postcard to a best friend; may you tell people the things you admire about them, because we don’t say these things enough. In other words, may you find – within one of the loneliest seasons – moments of joy.
From 7th July, I’ll be increasing the price of my paid subscriptions, to match the digital zines I create every single month. Paid subscribers also get access to the members’ chat, where we talk about everything from pop culture to little daily glimmers, make requests for future pieces, and perks which include bookclub discussions and pen pal matching. If you’re on the fence about signing up, here’s a taster from an old zine.
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