There are some phrases I simply cannot stand. ‘Shifting gears’ is one of them.
As mid-August approaches and hot sticky summer nights begin to cool, my fan goes back into the closet and I schedule my last day at work in my blissfully simple summer job, I know I need to face that phrase once more.
Then someone, usually a parent, casually mentions it midway through a telephone call.
“So, do you feel like you are getting ready to shift gears again?”
Immediately, visions of reading a long-awaited bestseller while sprawling out in the sun disappear. Trips to the beach and nights eating ice cream sandwiches on my porch are replaced with deadlines, budgeting an impossibly expensive final year, and an inevitable honours project that has been avoided all summer.
Damn, why did they have to say ‘shifting gears’?
Whatever time I had left to finally get out on that weekend camping trip seems lost. Now the excitement of school mixes with the intimidation of having to finish a four-year program. I have to justify the thousands of dollars, the move to Halifax and, of course, the decision to pursue a career in what seems like the most jobless field in existence.
The phrase hits me like the glass door you never see when you open the screen door to run outside.
This year, though, I have decided to take a different approach.
I am going to defy the 12-month calendar year. I am keeping summer with me. Never mind that my day planner will now be so full of deadlines, the blue and black ink will now resemble the bruise I can feel already starting in my brain.
So what did I decide to do to make this mental decision a reality? I signed up for a scuba course with my boyfriend. I spent the only money I had saved up that wouldn’t be going to tuition, rent and food. It was my way of showing my planner that I still control my life. I want more from my final year than a line in my resume that says ‘graduated in May of 2013.’
I want challenges that don’t come on paper.
I want relaxation.
I want memories.
I want summer.
So here’s to the final days of shifting gears, whether it means packing a suitcase, saying goodbyes, making a trip to Staples or contacting profs to squeeze into that required course that somehow you forgot despite multiple appointments with a guidance counselor.
Summer is more than the four months we allot for it. June, July and August embody a frame of mind and a way of living that is as important as the diligent months that follow: September, October and worst of all, November.
So whether you are returning to friends or making your way through the ivy gates for the first time, just remember to keep a little extra space in your suitcase for summer. It may not mean signing your life away to the god-forsaken freezing cold blue depths of the Atlantic. In fact, it may be as simple as remembering to read something other than a textbook once in a while.
Bring that bestseller even if it’s not on your course list.
Sign up for something that catches your fancy—even if you feel a little guilty after.
And for gods’ sake, leave a little room in your agenda to see the white of the page.
Recent Comments