Here are some things for your summer bucket list.
- Kitten Heels and a Midi Skirt
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I’m obsessed with wearing heels during the summer. There’s something about pairing your favorite heels with a midi skirt and walking through the city with an internal monologue that makes life feel infinitely more interesting.
Your 20s are probably the only time in your life when you can get away (by the skin of your teeth, anyway) with being as messy and dramatic as Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and the City,” so you might as well lean into it. Wear the heels. Be emotionally slutty. Romanticize everything. And if you end up regretting your decisions later, at least you’ll have looked amazing while making them.
- Hiking (or any nature related quest)
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The two aspects of hiking are walking and praying that the view, waterfall or whatever your final destination is, ends up being worth it.
Theoretically, I should love hiking. My favorite activity on earth is putting on headphones, listening to music and contemplating every conversation and decision I’ve ever made. On paper, hiking should be perfect for me.
But it’s just not.
I don’t connect with the entire “the journey is the destination” aspect of it all. If there’s a waterfall, I would actually prefer to be taken directly to the waterfall. If I want to see a sunset, I can look outside.
That being said, I deeply admire people who fully commit to the hiking aesthetic. The matching sets. The tiny protein bars. The commitment to incline. The possibility of falling to your death at any given moment. It’s just not for me.
I do like nature, though. So this summer, you’ll find me at the beach instead.
- Really Cool Color Combinations
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All my clothes are either brown, white or black. This summer, the goal is to bring color back into my closet.
That means a deep dive into Pinterest and Instagram, looking for outfit inspiration and color combinations that make getting dressed feel slightly more interesting. Lime green and burgundy. Chocolate brown and pink. Teal and mustard. Olive green and Plum.
Colors that make an outfit feel intentional instead of something I threw on five minutes before leaving the house.
- Vintage Markets
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I love vintage markets. It could be knick-knacks, posters, random little trinkets for your room or cool things for your closet, and I will happily devote hours of my time looking through all of it.
There’s something so satisfying about digging through racks for one oddly specific item that feels cosmically assigned to you. Tiny watches. Old leather bags. Questionable sunglasses. Rings that absolutely belonged to somebody’s divorced aunt in the 1970s.
Even if I leave without buying anything, it’s the experience that you’ll remember with the person you go with. The weird seller or the thing you probably could have gotten if the stars aligned a tiny bit more.
- Massive Clean Out
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There are things in your closet, room and life that you just don’t use or frankly want anymore. So, before you end up on an episode of “Hoarders,” clean it all out. I’m sure I’m the last person to be giving anyone advice on throwing things away, but here it is, regardless.
This summer, I want to get rid of things properly. Clothes I keep “just in case.” Makeup I psychologically retired six months ago and probably expired years back. Random little objects that somehow survived three semesters and two personality changes.
I want my room to feel lighter. I want to stop treating clutter like emotional support decor.
This way, you can now leave space for new things to happen.
- Being Messy (within reason)
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Before your internship starts or the next semester inevitably arrives and destroys your peace again, allow yourself a brief period of tasteful chaos.
Call out the people you want to call out. Say what you actually mean for once. Stop forcing yourself to attend things you secretly dread and master the art of the Irish exit. Not every problem in your life needs a perfectly articulated closure speech, and sometimes disappearing from the function or situation is enough.
Your 20s are weird and transitional and occasionally emotionally humiliating. You’re allowed to be a little messy in the name of protecting your own mental health. Just try not to leave too much evidence behind.
- Figure Your Life Out (as much as you can)
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Summer always feels like the one time of year when life slows down just enough for you to hear your own thoughts again.
It’s the perfect time to catch up on all the things you swore you would do during the semester but never had the time, energy or mental stability for. Going to the gym consistently. Learning a new skill. Reading more. Cooking actual meals. Picking up hobbies you abandoned because Canvas discussion posts and deadlines consumed your entire personality.
You do not have to completely reinvent yourself by August, despite what LinkedIn productivity culture may suggest. But summer does feel like a good time to slowly become the version of yourself you kept postponing during the year.
You have a plethora of options for the summer: you can reinvent yourself, stick to your current personality or slightly change aspects of yourself you can’t once you start real life again. Either way, summer feels like one of the only times in life where you’re allowed to experiment a little.
So make sure you have fun while figuring it all out!