Dear Hot Girl Summer,
Originally, I thought you were a name that only applied to women sizes 2-4. I was silly to think that because I am not a 2 or 4 that I would have to deprive myself of having a hot girl summer. Our Lord and savior Megan Thee Stallion has said time and time again, hot girl summer is not about being a certain size, wearing a certain brand of clothing, or taking the most selfies. Hot girl summer is about living your life while being unapologetically you. I don’t know about you guys, but I had myself a summer of living unapologetically myself.
This was my first summer being 21. As soon as my plane touched down in my home state of New Jersey, I hit the ground running. For the next three months of summer, a summer that went by far too fast, my best friends and I raced around our hometown, Philadelphia, and of course what’s a Jersey summer without countless trips to the Jersey Shore.
I spent so much of my summer driving to and home from the shore. I laid in my backyard and read my Confessions of a Shopaholic book series. I ran around in circles playing and tiring out my pups, Stella and Archie. I went on almost 2 hour long walks most days listening to my comedy and lifestyle podcasts. I went to the beach by myself and floated upwards looking at the sky, just taking it all in.
This summer was an action-packed one. In between the beach trips and city comedy show adventures, I got to live among my family, pups, and best friends from home. It was an eye-opening real summer where I noticed my social network was becoming more honest and vulnerable. We were transparent with our stressors, anxieties, and fears of the future as the countdown to college graduation was just a mere year in time away. As you can imagine, this brought my friends and family that much closer to me. I’ll never forget this summer because while I was living unapologetically myself, everyone else I hold near and dear to my heart was doing the exact same.
Now I’m back at school and haven’t stopped moving since I got back on August 22nd. I think I’ve seen this film before. Let’s make this hot girl summer, our hot girl fall. Then again after that let’s make it a hot girl winter. Or maybe a cold girl winter would make more sense? Whatever the name is, we’ve got time to figure it out. I’ll just keep being me and I hope you’ll do the same.
Love,
Jess MacAulay