Happy Monday!

What are you hoping to accomplish before the end of summer? Do you make a summer bucket list and try to check everything off? Are you more spontaneous and decide to do things as they come up? What summer activities do you look forward to the most?

For me, I tend to try to make a little bit of a list of things that I would like to do, but I am constantly switching it up and embracing whatever comes along. This summer has been filled with so many new experiences because of this. I’m not the most spontaneous person, but it has been something that I’ve been trying to be more open to lately. Life is filled with things that you can’t plan for and some of the best moments are those that happen unexpectedly.

My summer has been filled with finding new things that I really ended up enjoying. A lot of them are things that I never would have known about had I not pushed myself outside of my comfort zone to try them. I have found a plethora of new places that I can’t wait to go back to. I have come across so many new foods and drinks and desserts that I had never tried before. I had never been to a concert on my own before or gone to one more than 40 minutes from home. I went to the largest concert that I’ve been to to date, which also required me to drive across another state, and now I can say it easily topped any concert experience I’ve had.

I have met new people, learned so many new things, grown new plants, gone out dancing, and made new foods. I’ve gotten to find and photograph animals that I’ve only seen in other people’s pictures before–ones that I’ve been searching for and hoping to find for quite some time now. As well as new things, I’ve been able to do things that I used to do all the time when I was younger but haven’t been getting to do the last several years. 

The more open I stay to life, the more it seems to bring me fulfilling experiences. I thought I knew myself well, but this year has taught me so much more. Stay open to life, guys. You never know what incredible experiences it might have in store for you. That’s not to say you shouldn’t ever have a plan, but be ok with going with the flow and riding the wave you end up on. It just might take you to places you never knew existed, ones that are so much more than you could ever even dream up.

Ride that wave,

-S