Summer Daze, Drifting away...

Silly season is upon us. Back in my PR days we used to relish this time of year because it meant that we could finally get some column inches to justify the hefty monthly retainers for the hard to place clients and their products and stories; the pressure eases a little in the newsroom in July and journalists were more inclined to hear our sell in pitches and offer a glimmer of hope for the brands that languished at the back of the queue all year, endlessly failing to make the edit. Trouble was, fewer people were reading the coverage - this was pre social media days when the news was not in the palm of your hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Here, newscasting was hierarchical and select, tabloids were king and the paparazzi were higher still - camera phones didn't exist so if the snappers got the shot of 'slebs' falling out of a club they had the money shot, literally.

But when does silly season officially start? Socially conditioned to assume the summer only begins once school is out is a falsity. This negates all of the time pre-summer solstice - the profusion of May and the very long days of June are waylaid by the academic calendar. But hello? Summer, guys? We are in it, now. We've arrived. This is it. Let's live in and embrace long hazy days, the lack of routine, the season's nonchalance to the clock except maybe when the pool bar opens. Let's pause and be held in it's embrace now. We impart a lot of the year to the winter season, those days are dark, long, drawn out, cold and sometimes a little bit sad so why are we mentally shortening the Summer that brings with it warmth, hope, lightness, abundance - everything we're thirsty for in cold February.

I find myself in hurtle mode. And I'm blaming this on the 'countdown clock' on my holiday app, that I can't delete - staring at me each day, stealing my present. Yes, it is lovely to look forward to something but this incessant digital counting down is making me want to scramble towards the date, the destination rather than frolicking in this valuable time here and now that is very much the crescendo to summer heights. The kids haven't even broken up from school but already I'm getting anxiety about it being over and dreading the descent towards new pencil cases, uniform, changing leaves, crisper winds and the drudge of the dark nights as we transition to hedgehog mode. That said, I might then miss the counting down app once back because what will I be counting down to then? Christmas? Ignoring the golden glory of autumn as I go. Pah! But you get the drift.

Why do we do this? The identification of the present not as something to get through but rather to sit in and be embraced is known in Buddhism as Sati. This idea of 'moment to moment awareness of present events,' or 'to remember to observe,' or as the late 20th century Western iteration would have it, 'mindfulness.' Be present in the moment rather than constantly looking at the horizon and beyond it, less of the getting through to get to. There is beauty and value in the waiting and the transition and all that it offers. Chin up yes but there is also a time and place to look down at your own feet grounding down and connecting back. We don't have to always be aiming to soar or to rise to be valid, appreciated or recognised.

If you don't have a countdown app or are not going away perhaps ponder the simple question, what does summer mean to me? Being outside, the distorted noise of being underwater, crunchy salty hair, relentless abundant sand, gentle breezes, ambient light, sunsets, melting ice cream, watermelon, the smell of nectarines and the suede of peaches. The waft of fire and the anticipatory savour of meat grilling, crisp beers, sweet cocktails, aioli and peeling prawns, umbrellas, the relief of the shade and the smell of suncream. Warm, tanned skin, bright colours, happy, splashing feet. If you think it, go create it and be present in it.