Writing myself onto the pages of Summer 2026

Hello lovely one,

How is your heart today?

Today was our last day of term, we have been ‘broken up’ less than two hours at the time of writing this sentence and my eldest has already said that she is bored. Pray for my patience to last the 6 week break!!!

Endings like this come with a mixture of feelings.

Relief… that school drop offs and busy mornings are on pause for the next 6 weeks.

Excitement… at the adventures that lie ahead of us as a family.

Overwhelm… at the thought of getting organised for a trip away, and of keeping two spirited little beings occupied (but not too occupied) for the forseeable future.

Dread… at the squabbles and inevitable meltdowns that will arise, and the lack of space my easily overstimulated body will receive.

Peace… at the prospect of a slow days and lazy moments to lay our bodies down and rest from normality. (I am planning plenty of movie afternoons!)

Unease… at the lack of routine (despite also craving freedom from it) and how that will feel in my system.

Grief… that another school year has come to a close and my babies will never be this young again.

Hope… that we can make some wonderful lasting memories with family and friends.

Motherhood, I have learned —and life in general of course — truly is a repeating cycle of endings and beginnings, of threshold moments. Some feel ‘bigger’ than others… some pass us by without making much of a mark, others come in like a tornado and shake everything up.

I guess this one feels ‘medium sized’.

All of these moments — big or small — deserve to be acknowledged, even in the most subtle of ways.

The ‘end of school ritual’ for us was a water fight at the local park. It was fun for about three minutes until my eldest got squirted by one of the boys and decided she didn’t like it. The youngest unsurprisingly didn’t want to leave! But even with the tears, this ‘closing’ is important. A milestone moment to mark the ending of school term and the beginning of the holidays.

So now we sit in the ‘in between’.

One school year complete, another not quite ready to begin, entering liminal time where days blur into one another and we can let the dust settle on what has come before, while preparing ourselves for the opening of a new chapter.

These ‘waiting room’ phases are crucial, even if they bring a little bit of anticipation and un-ease.

The more I align my own rhythms to the outer seasons, the more I actually find Summer the most exhausting of all the seasons. The lighter, longer days mean that sleep is less present, the warmth — whilst a relief to my forever cold body for a short term — quickly turns oppressive, triggers health issues and ends up being energy sapping. The pressure to be ‘out’ seems greater with way more calendar invites and options to ‘do stuff’, not to mention the intense build up to school holidays (this term was over seven weeks long which felt quite aggressive compared to the five week one previous).

Most people I speak to are in agreement it seems. Tired. Exhausted. Drained. Overwhelmed… all are words I have heard from other women’s lips this past few weeks.

When we look at nature, summer is the peak for many of our blooms, and actually there is a sense of the hard work being ‘done’. It is time to sit and smell the roses. To observe the flowers in their full expression. To sip the elderflower cordial that was harvested earlier on in the season. It is not the ‘building’ phase anymore.

And when I look through another lens, the lack of rain in our part of the world means that the ground is dry and dusty and the lush green that resided a month or so ago has turned to a pale gold. It actually looks far from alive, which perhaps is a little bit of a reflection of so many of our own energetic capacities right now.

So, as I step into 6 weeks without structured childcare, my creativity will have to fit into the edges. I am OK with this… I need a Summer just as much as my children do and I am very grateful for the opportunity to intentionally pause.

But I will also be putting my own needs at the top of the list alongside theirs because I need to restore my energy as much as they do. Of course I am there to tend to the practical side of things and there are demands on me that will be draining at times, but when it comes to our activities and our daily rhythms they need to feel good in my system, as much as possible, too.

That means days out will be things I want to do (National Trust properties and gardens are my fave for this!), I won’t be filling the diary with stuff, and yet I have a group of friends that I can spontaneously message on the day to set up a a garden play date or meet up at the park (because parenting in company almost always beats being alone). I have basic craft supplies always on hand and the simplicity of paint and paper never fails to do wonders for frazzled nervous systems in this home.

Any spare solo time that arises will be focused on filling up my own wellspring, which means early evening Yin practices in my studio, walks when I can, creative business projects tended to while the kids are watching a film and regular time with my creative journal.

I am determined to write myself onto the pages of Summer 2026 because it is my break too.

Perhaps you might like to contemplate this yourself… how can you make sure you write yourself into the Summer 2026 story?

I thought it might be nice to open up and highlight some of my Balm Membership practices for everyone to access over the summer holidays. I am not planning on writing here until September (unless the spontaneous urge arises) and in fact I intend to delete all social media and distracting apps so that I can disentangle myself from the quick and dirty ‘fixes’ that I have become a little more accustomed to than I would like.

So… here are some soothing songs for Summer. I hope that you can sink into them whenever you need to tend to your own wellspring. These will be available for all until September. My invitation is to save this post so that you can quickly access the practices whenever you need them.

If you do pause and enjoy them, please let me know. It genuinely makes my heart happy to know they are being received.

And if you crave more, you can join The Balm Membership to get access to lots more.

For when you have under 10 minutes and need a short and sweet hug for your heart…

For when you have under 20 minutes and want to connect in with yourself…

For when you have between 20 - 40 minutes and want to nourish your whole system…

For when you have an hour and want to move your body and soothe your soul…

I am so looking forward to connecting back with you in September.

You are always welcome to email me over the summer months if you wish to share anything with me at all. While I won’t be actively sharing, I will still be responding to the beautiful community here as it truly feeds my spirit.

Until next time, go gently,

Love

Lauren

xxx

If something has stirred within you as you read my words, I would love to invite you a little further into my world.

I am Lauren — mother, business mentor, website artist, human design guide, writer, sacred space holder and multi-faceted creative alchemist. The thread running through everything I do is this… creating powerful yet nurturing containers for women to remember and rise into their own unique medicine.

To explore the fuller landscape of my heart work, come find me at www.laurenbarber.co. There you will find a portal of offerings for the mystics, the dreamers, the visionaries, the mothers, the healers and the heart-centred human beings.

And if you are a woman weaving soul into the way you work and lead, my Sacred Business newsletter is a quieter, deeper conversation. Step gently in through my free Gateway experience here.

I am so honoured to hold you here. x