10.6.20 // sending off summer 2020

Sending off summer 2020.
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This summer was everything short of what I imagined.
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My original plans were massive. This was going to be the biggest summer I had ever had.
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Summer 2020 was going to push me out of my comfort zones, out of my understanding of how the world works, and allow me the time and freedom to rediscover myself through the lens of experience.
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Well, this summer was not the global travel I expected or the rediscovery of self, but it was something else...
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This summer was one of my hardest seasons of life.
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It was many of ours.
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A global pandemic, heart-breaking leadership in the country that I call home, murders of innocent souls who never received their justice, feeling constantly unsettled, overwhelmed, and frustrated, desiring nothing more than to be alone and yet feeling so lonely.
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Summer 2020, you've pushed me, but your long summer days were also beautiful.
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You forced me to slow down, take a deep breath, and to face some of my inner demons. You've encouraged me to think smaller to think bigger and to prioritize moving towards a future that calls to me, not just accidentally moving towards a future because I'm simply on that path. You gave me time to read books that have genuinely changed me.
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You have changed me.
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So while this summer was everything short of what I imagined, ​it ended up being more than I ever could have dreamed.