WALKING ON SUNSHINE

Balmy, lazy days and late, tipsy nights... for Candice Brathwaite, the promise of new beginnings means it’s time to let go now

Candice Brathwaite on enjoying the most carefree days of the year

‘In summer, my mood shifts’

You’ve probably heard people talk about September as back-to-school season, an opportunity for fresh beginnings and even fresher stationery. I’ve always felt this way. But the looming excitement of a new start defines my summer months, too. Not because I spend summer on the precipice of expectation, but the opposite: knowing there’ll be a chance to press the reset button when the leaves fall allows me to welcome summer with arms flung wide open.

It began when I was a child. As the summer holidays approached, my parents became lackadaisical about my school attendance. With little time left until we were set free for six weeks, my teachers had mentally checked out. Arithmetic was replaced with extended afternoon playtimes, and time that had been dedicated to vowels and syllables was traded for arts and crafts. The time to wind down was almost upon us, and everyone was ready.

For me, not much has changed since then. When summer begins, I’ve had my yearly pedicure and pushed all my sweatshirts to the back of the wardrobe. I don’t hesitate to switch into summer mode. In my mind, the sticky nights and never-ending days are the prelude to a new beginning. If September carries with it the sense of New Year, then summer is like New Year’s Eve.

It’s a time for barefoot barbecues and setting aside your phone because you’re so lost in conversation. For delayed bedtimes (both for adults and children). When rigid timetables relax, whether or not you’ve booked a holiday. Maybe it’s the sunshine, but everyone seems happier, too.

When I worked in an office, everyone audibly and physically relaxed in summer. Shoulders would sink down from earlobes and there was more silly chat about memes and pop scandals at the water cooler, instead of the usual hushed, serious conversations that dictated the tone the rest of the year. (This new-found sense of freedom was perhaps because most senior members of staff were taking their annual leave, and we delighted in being able to behave like children who were finally out of their parents’ view.)

Now I’m a self-employed mother-of-two, I feel the pull of summer’s warm embrace more strongly than ever. All year round I’m thinking about work: how to get more of it and how to balance it with my home life when, like buses, all the jobs seem to arrive at once. But in summer, my mood shifts: with my children at home for the school holidays, most emails are met with a polite ‘out of office’. There is no shouting ‘eat your Rice Krispies!’ at 7.45am or feeling guilty because I have to wake the one-year-old so I can get the five-year-old to school on time. Instead, there are spontaneous day trips and dinners in the garden.

Perhaps part of the joy of it all is that soon it will be the perfect time for reinvention, be that of myself, my home, my routine; or perhaps all three. While I have no office to return to in September, it still makes me grin childishly to think about committing to new ways of doing things. Whether it’s trying out a new style or, finally, going to a new workout class, few things feel as good as adding zest to my life and making some changes.

But until then, it’s wonderful to take a much-needed break before I get back to business. Knowing there is a new beginning around the corner means that for these precious summer months, I’m cutting myself some slack. If you want to, maybe you should, too. After all, there’ll be plenty of time for to-do lists and goal setting in the upcoming months. For now, I’m giving myself permission to enjoy the carefree summer days and nights, when the living is that little bit easier.