Summer 2025: Things That Made Me Happy (Despite a little Enjoyment Anxiety)
Oh Summer! It’s always meant a lot to me. I started going to sleepaway camp when I was 6 years old (For 8 weeks - crazy, I know!) I’d sob on the last day of camp, come home and not want to talk to anyone because they “just didn’t understand,” and then immediately start counting down the days until camp started again. Summer was everything. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve continued to have high expectations for a summer filled with adventures, beautiful nature, relaxation, and fun, but now it comes with a whole new layer of anxiety: feeling like time is going too quickly, worrying that I only have so many summers with my kids, wondering how long I’ll be able to keep doing the things I love. Add in guilt about focusing on fun when the world is falling apart. And - at the risk of being too transparent, I also stress about how to balance my own recharging and relaxation with keeping MoveRunPlay running all summer and supporting all of your summer fitness goals.
So in other words, I suffer a bit from a combination of what I’m calling enjoyment anxiety and stress-laxing:
Enjoyment anxiety: that pressure we put on ourselves to make our well-deserved leisure time “the MOST FUN EVER”
Stress-laxing: when just trying to relax makes you feel anxious, guilty, stressed.
This summer I consciously tried to lower the pressure - let go of expectations that any one trip or experience had to be THE BEST. I tried not to overthink too much; I said yes to things that sounded fun, I said no to things I didn’t want to do. I prioritized people and nature. I said yes to invitations to visit friends even if it meant short visits and long drives. And when something didn’t go as planned, I tried to just roll with it.
The payoff was joy in some unexpected places. Here are a few of big and small things that made me happy this summer:
1. Logging in to a marketing webinar at the rooftop pool in Santa Fe.
I didn’t really do much “work” while I was on vacation this summer, but I did tune into my monthly webinar with business consultant extraordinaire Alexa Cawley—this time poolside at the Drury Plaza hotel in Santa Fe. Being in a relaxed state of mind in a beautiful place, while learning, strategizing, and thinking critically is a pretty incredible combination.
(Quick plug: If you’re a small business owner, check out Alexa’s consulting business and marketing membership! If you’ve never stayed in a Drury Plaza (I had never heard of it til I got a hot tip at HIIT class!), they have some pretty sweet extras, including their 5:30 Kickback: free drinks and “snacks” - but the snacks were enough for a full dinner. And they often repurpose historic buildings, which I think is really cool. The one in Santa Fe was originally a rectory; it’s really beautiful and the rooftop pool with a gorgeous view was really a treat.
2. Morning coffee at our AirBnb in Arroyo Seco, New Mexico.
So much of what made me happy this summer was spending time with people I love, but those moments of solitude and silence were golden. Arroyo Seco is a charming, artsy mountain village near Taos, New Mexico.
3. A cold and drizzly rock climb that we almost skipped. If you know me, you know that family vacations mean I book a climbing guide and then plan the rest of the trip around the days on the rocks. This year was no different, but on our last day in Taos, a sudden storm rolled in and chased us off the rock — we saw a bolt of lightning and a loud clap of thunder, and we bailed as quickly as possible, hiked out and headed to our car to drive down out of the canyon and wait out the storm.
Jake, our guide thought we might get another short window of climbable weather, but honestly, it was a tough sell. The skies were grey, we were tired, and calling it a day sounded pretty good to all of us. But my younger daughter had had a rough climbing day and I was really hoping she could leave on a high note, so . .. we gave it a try to get in one last climb, knowing the weather might not cooperate, but figured we had nothing to lose. The drizzle lingered, the route was a little exposed and scary, the rock was slick, there was no stunning view given the thick cloud cover, but we each managed to have a turn on this challenging route and we all made it up the climb. And maybe because it was unexpected, it felt like bonus time, but it was by far our favorite climb of the week.
4. Listening to the Ruined Podcast. I know most people don’t love long driving days, but I kinda do - partly because it means hours of podcasts. This summer our go-to was Ruined, where one horror fan hilariously spoils scary movies for her squeamish cohost. The worse the movie, the better the episode. If you’re curious, start with their take on the 1983 cult classic Sleepaway Camp (as long as you are ok with problematic movies that don’t age very well! And you don’t mind spoilers!)
5. Rafting on the Rio Grande. OK this was one of the “fun” things I had planned that really DID live up to expectations. We did just a half day on the Rio Grande but it made me want to do way more - maybe even plan a weeklong river trip in my future. Oh and then that night we watched the movie River Wild that night (the 1994 version with Mery Streep and Kevin Bacon!) So fun!
6. Dropping my kids off at camp. Camp drop-off brings up so many emotions for me — a little envy, a little sadness to be away from my kids for that long, nostalgia for my own childhood summers, but mostly joy. Joy in knowing my kids get to spend weeks unplugged, outdoors, making memories, and having adventures. Camp is truly the best.
7. A last minute trip to cheer the Mets at CitiField. I’m a big Mets fan but I hadn’t gone to an actual game since 2019 (!) We decided last minute to go on a Saturday afternoon in early August. One thing I love about baseball games is that no matter what has happened to the team in the weeks prior or the day before, even if they are in the midst of a terrible losing streak, each game feels like a fresh new start. Anything can happen that day and you can always feel full of hope. And this time they won! The weather was perfect, energy was high, it was great to be outside cheering. LGM!
8. Pickleball debut (round 2). It had been on my 2024 bucket list, and this summer I finally played for a second time. At a recent class, I did a Question of the Day about pickleball and it turns out you all have strong opinions about pickleball! But I think it’s ridiculously fun, more accessible to learn than other sports, and social. Big thanks to friends who patiently played with us newbies. You can read my original pickleball post HERE
9. Starting a new book that I actually really like. I’m not a fast reader. And I spent much of the summer slogging through one book I wasn’t even enjoying. (Why was I too stubborn to just put it down?) When I finally finished, I picked up God of the Woods by Liz Moore (given to me as a birthday gift way back in March). It’s a suspenseful, atmospheric mystery set at a 1970s Adirondacks camp— couldn’t be more perfect for me. Lesson learned - don’t waste your time with things you don’t enjoy!
10. First college visits! You guys, just writing those words down and I start crying. My social media feed is full of college drop-offs - some of kids of friends of mine - and some of complete strangers. And they all make me cry! But this is such an amazing and beautiful gift and privilege that really does bring me joy. With our rising junior, we dipped our toes in the college visit process this summer, checking out colleges that also happened to be in beautiful places we were visiting - Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire (home of my alma mater!) And I know the process will get way heavier soon, but this first round was just filled with hope and wonder for all the possibilities that lie ahead, and it was a great addition to our summer travels
What were your moments of joy this summer? What was surprising or unexpected? What do you want to do differently next summer? What are you looking forward to about fall? Would love to hear about it all! Drop me a line, or come out to a workout class in Prospect Park, where it feels like summer camp all year round =)