What Are You Taking With You?

‍ The Summer Bucket List We Forgot to Make

Apparently, summer packed up and left without asking whether we were done with it.

Rude.

One minute we're eating funnel cake, staying outside too late, and convincing ourselves that Tuesday is a perfectly reasonable night for something involving live music.

The next minute...

September is standing at the door.

And September has a completely different energy.

September owns a planner.

So before we start talking about everything we're going to do this fall, I have a question:

What are you taking with you from summer?

And no, I don't mean the extra three pounds that may or may not have followed you home from vacation.

We're not discussing those.

☀️ The Summer Bucket List

We love a good summer bucket list.

Take the trip.

Go to the concert.

Spend the day outside.

Try the new restaurant.

Watch the sunset.

Eat the funnel cake.

Buy the ridiculous souvenir.

Make memories.

All worthy goals.

But maybe we forgot another list.

The one that doesn't photograph quite as well.

💜 The Other Summer List

Did you laugh more?

Did you rest without apologizing for it?

Did you spend time with people who made you feel good about being yourself?

Did you say no to something you really didn't want to do?

Did you stop explaining something that didn't need an explanation?

Did you discover that you actually enjoy your own company?

Did you finally recognize a pattern you've been pretending not to see?

Did you choose peace at least once when the old you might have chosen drama?

Now that's a summer list.

And you don't need a single picture to prove you did any of it.

🍂 What Deserves to Come With You?

Here's where I think we sometimes get seasons wrong.

We treat them like separate lives.

Summer Louise does one thing.

Fall Louise gets serious.

Winter Louise starts buying things she absolutely does not need because they're 40 percent off.

But maybe we don't need to leave the best parts of ourselves behind every time the calendar changes.

If summer reminded you to slow down...bring that with you.

If you laughed more...bring that with you.

If you finally stopped chasing somebody's potential...

please, for the love of all things pumpkin-spiced, leave the potential there.

We are packing selectively.

💜 And What Can Stay Behind?

Not everything deserves luggage.

Maybe summer clarified something.

A relationship.

A friendship.

A habit.

A boundary.

A version of yourself you've outgrown.

You don't have to make a dramatic announcement.

You don't have to write a three-page explanation.

You don't even need a ceremony.

Sometimes clarity sounds remarkably simple:

I'm not taking that with me.

That's enough.

😂 Louise Laugh

September always makes me feel like I should buy office supplies.

I don't need office supplies.

I have office supplies.

But one crisp morning can convince me that a new notebook is going to completely reorganize my life.

It won't.

I'm probably still buying it.

💥 Louise's Truth Bomb

A new season doesn't require a new you.

Sometimes it simply asks you to bring forward what you've learned.

🍁 One Last Thought

Maybe the most important summer bucket list isn't the one you completed.

It's the one you didn't know you were making.

The boundaries you strengthened.

The joy you rediscovered.

The peace you protected.

The things you stopped explaining.

The person you got to know a little better...yourself.

So before we rush into fall, take one last look at summer.

Keep what made you lighter.

Keep what made you wiser.

Keep what made you feel more like yourself.

And everything else?

Friend...it doesn't have to come with you.

💜

Louise