Appreciating Summer

Summer is and has always been, my favorite season of the year.

I've spent my entire life in the Midwest, barring rare trips to the East coast or the Southwest - I cannot understate how little I enjoy being cold. When I turned 18 and was legally free to make any choice I wanted (within reason), of course, I made the logical choice: going to college in Wisconsin, a place that's even colder than Chicago.

It's late July, which means summer is in full swing. The trouble is, the past few years of my life have been incredibly stressful for one reason or another. Summers have come and gone, and by fall, I've often found myself feeling as though I didn't do enough to appreciate summer while it was here.

The other day, I had an interesting moment. I've been getting into the habit of, every free moment that I'm awake, thinking as hard as I can to think of things I'm grateful for, while they're happening. I'm getting better at it. It's gotten to the point where it's almost addictive. Thinking about something you're experiencing that's pleasant, no matter what else might be going on, is like a little hit of happiness you can give yourself whenever you want.

The other day, I was walking down State Street in Chicago. I was fumbling with my headphones, trying to put them in so I could listen to a podcast on my walk to the train. Unlike most days, this time I was struck by a feeling that made me put my headphones back in my pocket.

I just took a deep breath and appreciated how, unlike 75% of the year, at that moment I felt totally warm. I'm a person who usually feels cold no matter the climate, but in this instance, I didn't feel cold at all - just the warmth of the Sun. It was wonderful.

I didn't listen to music or podcasts at all for the whole 15-minute walk...I just listened to the sounds of the city and savored being warm.

Focusing on the little things usually doesn't actually fix real-world problems like inflation or living in a country whose president is blatantly sucking the left nut of a foreign dictator...but it does give your brain the break it needs to re-energize. That's important if you want to survive this ludicrous world we live in.