Mental Health in the Summer
In Manitoba we anticipate our glorious summers. After surviving our frosty winters, outdoor festivals, patios, slurpees, and beaches promise so much sunshiny happiness. However, when we look forward to something this much, reality can disappoint and interfere with the summer we hoped for. If you are struggling this summer, you are not alone.
Maybe it’s about money. Never mind the staggering cost of living, summer can bring pressure to do, and pay for, all the things we’ve looked forward to; vacations, park passes, summer camps, and extra social events during the long warm evenings.
Maybe it’s about pressures to look a certain way, fit gender binaries, attain that idealized body, and wear summer clothes. Perhaps you end up hiding behind long sleeves and pants because the stress of being seen is more uncomfortable than the temperature.
Maybe you feel you don’t measure up to others who seem to be enjoying their summer with more zest for life, more toys, more lake, or more fun. Perhaps you’re struggling with chronic pain or illness, and the summer brings little relief.
Let’s be clear that at the root of some of these challenges are contexts that are outside of our control, or beyond one summer’s effort. For instance, living pay cheque to pay cheque has less to do with your worth and hard work, then it does with capitalism’s inequalities. Feeling as if your body isn’t deserving, has less to do with your size and more to do with society’s steadfast commitment to a billion-dollar wellness and diet culture. Feeling as if you can’t express your gender identity has everything to do with society’s entrenched binary ways of thinking.
I’ve been learning lately that personal contentment comes more readily when I stop striving, stop yearning for something better, and simply pause and breathe in the moment available to me right now. The neat thing about breath is that it happens in the present, not yesterday or tomorrow. Notice it, slow it down, and breathe in this warm Manitoba summer just as you are. You are beautiful! Remember, to achieve that “beach worthy body”, all you need is a beach and a body. Go have fun at the beach!
Jewel Reimer is a Registered Social Worker and counsellor working out of our Corydon location. She knows that taking the first step to find a therapist takes courage. She is am happy to meet with individuals over the age of 14, as well as, with families and couples. She uses she/her pronouns and will strive to provide a place of safety for anyone struggling to live in a world that is often oppressive and unjust, particularly the 2SLGBTQQIA+ community, those experiencing weight stigma, and those living with neurodiversity or disability.