It’s officially summer. The season of sunshine, sandals, and spontaneous joy. The time of year when, according to every influencer and CVS seasonal aisle, I’m supposed to be glowing, hydrated, energized, and possibly twirling in a field of wildflowers. But here I am staring down a lukewarm to-do list with a can of Red Bull in hand and a look in my eye that says, “I dare you to schedule one more doctor’s appointment.”
Shouldn’t summer jazz me up automatically? Isn’t that the deal we made with the universe? Longer days, warmer nights, a vibe that makes you want to blast Lizzo and clean your closet while wearing oversized sunglasses. Instead, I’m caught in a haze of June gloom with more errands than energy and groundhogs who’ve officially stopped being cute and started giving HOA-level attitude.
I’ve reached that odd point where summer is technically “a break” but still manages to feel like a trap. You know the one. Just a couple of weeks of “light schedule” that somehow cram in oil changes, lab work, dental cleanings, and at least one appointment where someone coldly tells me to drink less caffeine. No, Dr. Dopamine, I will not be giving up my Red Bull. In fact, I might get a prescription.
Because here’s the truth: I need pep. I need zip. I need a little razzle in my dazzle. But I’ve got no jazz hands. And while summer should be enough to get me moving, lately it’s been feeling more like that one friend who says, “Let’s go out,” but then ghosts you when it’s time to actually leave the house.
I tried to get an energy boost from watching my backyard groundhog colony. Nope. They’re just out there living their best suburban lives, completely ignoring my existential fatigue. They don’t even flinch anymore when the dogs bark. Honestly, I think they’re judging me. Silently. With their stubby little arms crossed.
So what’s a girl to do?
Maybe I’m due for an adventure. Something mildly ridiculous and not at all responsible. A spontaneous day trip. A walk somewhere I’ve never been. A new coffee shop that doesn’t shame me for asking for triple espresso, hazelnut syrup, and whipped cream. Maybe I need to shake up the routine before the summer slips into a bland soup of sunscreen and sighs.
Or maybe I just need to accept that this version of summer, this slightly dazed, Red Bull-fueled, task-laden stretch of days, is also real. And it still counts. You don’t need a plane ticket or a beach selfie to make it summer. Sometimes it’s just surviving the checklist, laughing at the absurdity, and leaning into the weirdness with sticky, caffeine-stained hands.
So here’s to summer. Here’s to Red Bull. Here’s to pretending errands are tiny adventures and to finding joy even in the dull bits. Because while I may not be twirling through wildflowers, I am showing up. And in this heat, and gloom, that’s more than enough.
Now excuse me while I crack open another can.
Categories: Culture, current events, identity, mental health, Pop Culture, Psychology, society
psychologistmimi 
Love this. And oh boy can I identify! Lol. My tricks of the trade are coffee (1 cup), nicotine pouches (4mg), Siberian Eleuthero, Ginkgo, and sometimes Sudafed. The first 3 are daily without fail, and the others are as needed.
In my area, the heat gets oppressive early. Miserable May, Jackass July, and Asshole August. Still trying to find another good “J” for June lol.
I enjoyed this! Thank you 😊
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Oh wow. Thanks for sharing your formula! Interesting mix. 🙂 oppressive early heat can be so draining. And August is so draining. Hang in there!
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Not always easy to work in the summer!
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True! True!
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i Won’t Lie There Are Some Days It’s Like
Moving ‘Fred Sanford’ Off The Legendary
“Sanford and Son” Couch From That Last Century Comedy
Series With the Realization that i’m 15 Years Older
Than that Fred in That Show Who Crawled Slowly
Across the Living Room Floor Right Side Up
Yet Yes There is Literally New
‘Twirling in Wildflowers’ Now
As i Literally Yes Metaphorically
Too Transform This 250 Pound Fred
into And As A
‘Forrest Gump
Feather’ In the Wind
Dear Miriam
Anyway Before i Spiral
Down to Many Words More
of Real Forrest Gump Stories
i Truly Wish everyone Could find
A Way to be a Wildflower Twirling
With Butterfly
Wings as
The Feather
Becomes the Free Breeze
Changing Some Frowns into Joy
Yet Always Persevering the ‘Orange Gehenna’
Free Left
Side UP
With SMiLes…
i Did it Literally for 8 Hours Sunday
in Stores Even Finishing A Book
Dancing at Barnes & Noble too
All across this Metro Area Never
Even Running Out of Breath Same
Energy at the End of The Beginning
Yet No Not When i
First Got Up Older
Off the Proverbial
‘Fred Sanford Couch’
Potato Averages Yes
As far as i can see and
feel for real the key for me
at Least Never Stop Free Dancing
iN Flow Newly Now
It’s True Sitting Here on my Butt
in Front of this Screen is Part of the
Fountain of
Youth for Real
at any Age Now
Yet a very very
small measure
of What’s Possible Dancing Free Head to toe and
More Out In the Wildflowers of Frowns and SMiLes…
Yes of course
not having to
work for pay
only playing
Makes a key
bit of difference too
Like Having Living Room to Actually Do IT…
Anyway i Literally did a Marathon of Dance on Sunday
Yet It’s Not Like Running a Marathon You Generate Smiles
Everywhere
ya
Go
EVEN IN ORANGE GEHENNA
Yet Finding Store Managers and
Employees Insisting on Going to
Get Me Ice Cold Bottles of Water
FREE
like they do at Marathons hehe
Still Good People Even in Orange Gehenna
Yet It’s True They Were even More ‘Tan’ than me…
True What Use is Leg Pressing
1540 Pounds 12 Reps Warming
Up at the Military Gym if You Just
Can’t
Lift
anyone up
as that applies
to the rest of existence true…
Anyway it can be it will be a
“Wonderful
Life” True
too…
Even after
Or in Real Hell..:)
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Haha! Fred Sanford. I never really watched that show. But I have heard of it and get the reference! Twirling in wildflowers..not a bad gig..
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1972-77 Time Moved
So Much Slower in
The “Sanford And
Son Days” Of
Rotary Phones
And Way Less
Than HDTV
Living Rooms
Still Served
Humanity Free
With SMiles
Dear Miriam
Sigh…
Change…
The only constant
And Free Dance And
Song
Wild
Flower
Twirling
Butterflies
Yes Wings
Still Rule
Meadows Free🎶☺️
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There’s still the issue of burnout. Be careful.
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