Whether its an internship in London that pays super well, interrailing with the crew from home (again), or a week in sunny Menorca, people seem to have these incredible summers year after year. Instagram blows up with aesthetic shots of sanded beaches, ice cream sundaes or cute little brunch places. Snapchat is also sure to update us on the “funniest” nights out. And it’s all they talk about when they get back.
Meanwhile you’ve been stuck at home, making a dash to the paving to attempt to tan when the sun glimpses from behind the clouds, or you’re working like crazy so maybe next summer you too can do something amazing. That’s if you don’t end up spending everything you earnt. Perhaps you didn’t want to do anything special. You just wanted to enjoy your time at home where your mum can do your washing and dinner isn’t something that’s scraped together from what hasn’t gone off in the fridge. But such a time at home sometimes doesn’t live up to expectations.
There is so much pressure on us to have an “amazing” summer. We’re given the impression that it’s supposed to be a prime time of “opportunity”, to spend time in exotic places and get up to things we usually wouldn’t at any other time in the year. You find the people you know at uni really have the best summers. The look-how-good-I-am-at-life kind of summers, which end up being more pressuring than inspiring for the rest of us (as silly as that may sound). Sometimes it’s our parents who, in an effort to urge us forward and learn from their “mistakes”, try to persuade us to “make the most of the summer” – as if it will be our last ever summer. But either way, it ends up being a form of social expectation for us to spend those few months in a certain way.
I’m using quotation marks for these phrases because they’re cliché. They’re tossed around between young people and their families as part of an effort to do better, be stronger, climb higher. But uni is stressful enough; in itself it can feel like an eternal effort. So, summer shouldn’t be stressful, full of obligation, regret and FOMO. It just shouldn’t. Full stop.
Let’s go back to the root. Aside from the meteorological definition, summer is time away from the stresses of uni. Summer isn’t necessarily time to have a ‘once in a lifetime experience’. So do what you want. If you want to go travelling and you have the means to do so, do it. But there is nothing wrong with staying at home or relishing in Uncle John’s indoor barbecues and eating strawberries in your living room while watching Wimbledon.
It will forever be tricky to avoid thinking about what the apparent status quo is telling you. But try it, because it’s liberating. Do what you want. These experiences people have during their summers seem so amazing from an outsider’s perspective. As an Australian, our summer might seem like all sunshine and rainbows. But an outsider’s perspective is never necessarily the truth. When it’s 40° and the flies are drinking your sweat as it drips down your leg you may well question how nice an Aussie summer is.
Summer is your time. Take it back!