When You’re At A Crossroads This Summer, Read This

Things to remind yourself when you’re unsure but ready this season

Abby Cheval
3 min readJul 8, 2021
Photo by Mateo Giraud on Unsplash

I have a little secret to share.

Like most of us, when I was little, summer felt like freedom to me. The two-month period with no school, fun all day, and sleepless nights filled me with such imagination and possibility. The end of something longstanding and exhausting felt like we were rewarded.

When we were kids, we felt that we had earned the right to smile, relax and dream for every new day we got during the summer break. Every new day meant a new adventure and anticipation for what was to come when we’d return back to a steady routine.

But growing up, that same joy twists and changes — so much so until it is almost unrecognizable.

It becomes a joy we feel unworthy of, and a freedom undeserved.

To be completely honest, I’ve never thought of summer in this way until now. Being in my late twenties, rolling into July was simply just another month of doing (and enduring) the same pains. I’d expect the next six months of the year to be more or less the same, all while silently hoping that somehow it would be different —and feel different — by or after Christmas.

--

--

Abby Cheval

Millennial, noncommittal romantic, walking the tightrope between hope and depression. Sounds like you too? I’ll write something for both of us.