Lust for Life: Follow your dreams this summer solstice, says Hayley Scott Summers
Cambridge-based life coach and mentor Hayley Scott Summers helps women to step out of their comfort zone and cultivate confidence. With the arrival of the summer solstice this month, she invites you to breathe life into your dreams
It’s official. The rapid approach of the summer solstice marks a tangible halfway point for 2023. For many, any new year’s resolutions have become a distant memory, lost in a haze of balmy summer days as we languish in longer evenings and soak up every ounce of sunshine. . . well, it’s England after all, so we have to enjoy it whilst the goings good!
Despite revelling in the warmer climate, I can’t help but wonder how we got here so fast. One minute I was carefully curating a vision board for this year’s goals with a glass of mulled wine, and with head-spinning velocity I’m now meticulously applying factor 50 on the kids before they go to the park!
When I was in my early 20s, I was told that time speeds up, and the older you get, the quicker it goes. With the typical carefree approach of most 20-somethings, I thought ‘yeah right’. Now in my mid-30s, I’m somewhat surprised, and if I’m completely honest sometimes annoyed, that this does in fact seem to be true!
With this in mind, it strikes me that the summer solstice may just be the perfect opportunity to press pause and revisit dreams and intentions previously set. And I’m not just talking about champagne-fuelled declarations made on December 31!
I’m talking about the real dreams that reside within you. Are you currently where you thought you’d be? Or is your year flying by so quickly that you’re left wondering how you’ll ever get around to doing that thing you want to do. You know. . . the thing? Because we all have a thing. . .
The remarkable nature of our dreams is that they truly never leave us. When unfulfilled, they reside within us, resurfacing when brought into our peripheral before we dismiss them again with reasoning that sounds a lot like ‘I’m too busy, too tired, or it’s not the right time’.
It’s easily done; life does get busy. Yet those never-ending ‘to-do lists’ somehow fail to accommodate our heart’s desires. And so, the dreams retreat, waiting for their next opportunity to gently nudge you into remembering their existence. But, if not now, when? And if now, how?
So, what would the version of you in six months’ time, be grateful you started today? One of the easiest ways to decipher this is to reflect upon the habits, mindsets and beliefs that would help you succeed in reaching those goals. There will be an element of having to acknowledge things that may sabotage your attempts whilst you embrace and cultivate things that will serve you in the pursuit of your dreams.
And we must address the elephant in the room when it comes to our dreams; fear. Because often it’s fear that holds us back. Fear can be disguised in behaviour that looks a bit like procrastination and a lot like excuses. Fear of failure, the judgment from other people’s opinions, change, it not being ‘perfect’, and a lack of self-belief that we can even ‘do the thing’, all play a huge role in why we prolong taking action on things so important to us.
One thing is for sure; taking full ownership of your dreams along with the actions required to bring them to life, is the only way to create a space for them to become a reality. If this strikes a chord with you, the summer solstice may be the perfect opportunity to get intentional with your time, invest in a little courage and take inspired action to make that future version of you grateful and proud of the steps you took today.
Find out more about Hayley at hayleyscottsummers.com or follow her on socials @hayleyscottsummers
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Velvet Magazine contributor