As inspired by the June 24 episode of LifeKit by NPR, hosted by Marielle Segarra and Malaka Gharib.
When I run, I try to keep a good, even pace. Something that I can maintain for the duration of the run. Sometimes, I start out too fast, burning out less than halfway into the run. Sometimes I start out too slow and then by the end, I’m going way to hard to empty the tank on the last stretch.
But sometimes, when I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, I run a good pace. It’s even, balanced, sustainable. It’s challenging, no doubt, but I don’t feel like I’m holding back nor do I feel like I’m giving everything I’ve got. I want a pace I can maintain and, when the run is over, still have enough left to make it home.
That’s what I want my summer to be. Well-paced, even, and balanced.
At the end of the summer, I want to feel fatigued from a strong, consistent effort, but still present and alive with a little bit more in the tank (and bank account) to carry me over into fall. A bad pace is going on a road trip every single weekend because I have a working car now, just to end up stuck in the house for the rest of the year. A good pace is being satisfied with my calendar as it was before the car purchase and waiting to sprinkle some road trips into the fall and winter.
A good pace is one I can maintain without holding back or hitting the floor.
I stay in the sun, need my skin like Hershey, yeah
from "Grace and Mercy" by Mick Jenksin
This summer, I want my results to speak for my consistency. I want my tan to be evidence of a life lived outside. I want my mental health to be evidence of a consistent journaling practice. I want the way I live my life to be evidence of how consistent I’ve been studying my Bible. I want my performance of Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor to be evidence of how many hours I put into practicing my instrument. I want my results to clearly speak to what I’ve been consistently pouring into.
The last time I was in a kayak was the Colorado River for my birthday earlier this year. Clearest water I’ve ever seen in my life. Coming around Horseshoe Bend is a memory I pray I never forget.
And while the Chattahoochee and other North Georgia waterways don’t have the crisp, cool water of the Colorado, they are in their own right absolute gorgeous places to paddle. And that’s exactly what I must experience at least once before summer ends. Perhaps Sweetwater Creek State Park or the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area.
My contributing level membership at the High Museum of Art has been sitting paid, yet unused in my apple wallet for many months. I need to change that and I need to change it quickly.
Isamu Noguchi AND Amy Sherald currently have exhibits at the High that I must see. Between Noguchi’s approach to shape and Sherald’s approach to color, I’m itching to see their work with my own eyes. It's as simple as marking it on the calendar and going. So that is what I will do.
Perhaps in the base of a waterfall in an Alabama forest or in a quarry on a North Carolina farm, I would love to stretch my legs and see if I still got the swimming skills I gained during my triathlon era. Certainly much warmer and more amicable than my beloved Lake Michigan, I am confident that the bodies of open water of the Southeast will be kind to me this summer. Out of all on the list, this is the only one somewhat already planned.
I intend to visit my beloved Lucas R. Berger in Helsinki, Finland and upon my third return to such a lovely city I also plan to return to a sauna on the sea which, in place of having cold plunge pools inside, simply offers the Baltic Sea. It is that body of water, specifically the Gulf of Finland, I plan to put my body into at the end of the summer. Only time will tell.
I’ve fallen off so bad with my reading this year, buoyed solely by my book club (s/o Themes and Things!!!!). Summer reading list coming soon, but I’m intent on returning to myself and therefore to literature this summer.
My frequency with publishing has suffered greatly over the last year or so. I went from weekly to sporadically due to lots of different things going on in my life. While I’m not going to punish myself about it, I do want to return that practice and challenge myself to publish 10 pieces on my beloved blog.
This is more of a to-do list than it is a bucket list item, but it must be done nevertheless. I need to take the time and comb through my finances carefully to make sure everything is tidy and in order. I got comfortable, set all the automatic things, and just let everything take care of itself. But with some recent changes (the giant one parked outside my front door), I find this a good time to review the way I spend, save, give, and invest my money.
I went to an estate planning workshop (courtesy of DeKalb County Public Library) TWO YEARS AGO and have yet to act on the information I gained from that riveting talk. Estate planning is not just for the old and wealthy and it’s not even just about death. It’s for everybody that has something and everybody that cares what happens to them when they can’t communicate for themselves. I’ve been procrastinating real bad on getting this together, but that ends this summer!!!! Send your estate planning lawyers my way please lol.
Write 750 words everyday. This used to be a part of my daily life, but I fell off this past winter. I’m back in!
I want to start (AND FINISH) a Bible plan this summer. I ain’t been in my Word like I’d like to be. I want to challenge myself to make this an intentional and consistent part of my mornings that hopefully continues beyond the summer.
I’m using this as a catch all for consistent movement habits. 3x/week in CrossFit. A bike ride to Piedmont Park once a week. A walk a day. CrossFit isn’t hard (paying money is great incentive for me). It’s the other stuff that will be a real challenge sticking to.
I’ve written about my relationship to photography and have been itching to return to the more creative parts of myself outside of my musicianship. Film photography is my medium of choice because it feels challenging and would be a new experience for me crafting a real digital exhibit experience.
Taste: Watermelon feta salad with dill and balsamic vinegar
Smell: Soil after an afternoon storm
Sight: Rich, slow sunsets painting the entire horizon a glowy red
Sound: Peace by Butcher Brown
Touch: Warm, sun-kissed, SUNSCREEN PROTECTED brown skin
Thalia, 27, just wants to be outside with her people.
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