I used to hate summer. The heat, the mosquitos, watching other people enjoying sea while you are burning in the hot city.
Summer existed only in vacation. If I was lucky, I got two weeks of it. Some years, none at all. Vacation meant the only time of the year when I would enjoy swimming and reading and slow living.
When my burnout came, my therapist asked me, “What’s the one thing you’d love to do more than anything right now?”
I said, “I’d want summer. Just so I can read a book.”
That’s when she told me something that changed everything: That summer feeling lives inside you. You don’t have to wait for a vacation, or the season. You can read every day, even if you’re not by the sea. Go to the pool. Listen to summer songs. Drink a cocktail at noon. Wear a swimsuit just because.
It took a lot of work, but I got there. I found ways to enjoy the art of summer, even in the middle of winter, even in the city and a busy schedule.
Because summer isn’t a season, it’s not this unbearable heat, boiling asphalt, or soul-eating mosquitos, and surely it’s not only vacation. Summer is a vibe, a feeling, a state of lightness we carry inside.
I can’t walk you through the whole journey (that’s something for a therapist or coach), but I can share what kept me inspired along the way: all the visual summer research I became totally obsessed with.
A - Air
B - Beach
C - Color palette
D - Diary
E - Entering the water
F - Fun
G - Glass
H - Hockney
I - Imprints
J - Jump
K - Kisses
L - Love
M - Mermaid
N - Nap
O - Oasis
P - Paint
Q - Quote
R - Read
S - Sunrise/Sunset
T - Tune
U - Umbrella
V - View
W - Wave
X - Xanthic
*Xanthic – yellowish in color, evokes sunshine and sand.
Y - Yonder
*Yonder – poetic word for distance or horizon; perfect for summer daydreams.
Z - Zen
For a month that marks the beginning of summer, and holds the longest days of the year, I imagined something bolder. I thought the sunsets would be loud.
June is gold. The sky turns golden in that quiet hour before the sun slips away. It’s when the golden hour truly comes alive.
But even now, the light doesn’t end cleanly in the sea. No wild bursts of color after sunset, no electric sky. Just a slow fade with clouds. As if summer itself is stretching awake, slowly remembering how to shine.
And while summer sunsets are warming up, we are ready to celebrate it with the June playlist made by Ordinaria - Heat flows through the veins, the skin begins to glow, and there’s a desire to dance and let go.
