May burst on the scene with light + warmth + a feeling of pure bliss. And a sudden vibe of nothing but life-giving, sunshine-y goodness. As if right on cue, or, actually a month and a half early, summertime arrived and I knew exactly what I needed to do.
With my newfound, deeper understanding of living in the present moment thanks to a very tough + inwardly-focused April, I said to myself in the beginning of May that I wanted to be sure to soak up the moments as they came. To enjoy the early summer and not just pine + wish my days away. And to not forget the lessons that I had learned the previous month. In fact, to double down on them… making the present moment my focus once again.
And I followed through with my intention.
You see, I did not long for summer, for vacation, for the weekend, or for tomorrow… because I was living too much for each day, for each moment, just as it came.
May brought me a patience + an awareness + an obsession with the present moment like I’ve never known. A chance to live out what I had learned in the balancing act that was April. Sure, inside I wish that every month could be like May was. But I can’t say that I never want it to change, because it will. Change is inevitable. Not every day will be all summer-lovely and fabulous. But that’s the beauty. That’s the secret. Change, for me, is simply the new now. And the acceptance of it + willingness to live as a part of the flow of change, is the things that allows me to focus on living right here, right now.
So, here’s to 31 gorgeous early summer days of nows. To beer hangs after work, backyard hangs with my baby, slow nights at home, dinners out, birthday celebrations, picnics, sunshine, nature walks to work, friends + family, amazing teenagers, long, bright nights, and inspiring contemplative mornings.
I am certain that I have learned that if I simply stay present in the moment, there will be beauty like this for all the days to come.
Oh one more thing: Along with the free-spirited, soak-up-the-moment, feeling of May, I also returned to creating photos. Still no blog posts in May, but I did slowly, intentionally return to photography + Instagram. It felt good to ease myself back into documenting my life as I lived it, but to remain on hiatus from blogging. I knew that I still needed to be very present in the moment. That, at the time, during May, blogging would have torn me away from it all.
Now, I made no decision for the entire month to not blog; but, I rather trusted each day to bring with it exactly what I needed. Turns out, I needed and craved sunshine, social activities, nature, and to enjoy my work more than I needed or wanted to blog. So, that’s what I did.
So, I have to photos to share with you, my friends! Photos of gorgeous, blooming, sunshine-y, beautiful Uppsala in the early summer. And how I basked in every single moment of it.
Go grab yourself a snack or a drink + settle in for my little May photo journal!
The first weekend in May started off with nothing but good energy. A complete change from the heavy, transforming energy of April. When I woke, I could feel that it was time to live life, to embrace the moments, to savor it all. No waiting for anything. The whole point of it all was to soak it all up as it came. So, we did! After waking + having a slow breakfast (it just so happened to be Saturday, we met some friends for an afternoon/evening of drinks – the only catch… we had to be outside continuously!
The sun + warmth continued; and I was dying to get outside during my days of work. So, as much as I could, during lunch or in the afternoon, I headed out into the city for some fresh air + sunshine.
And… after work… since it was soooo freaking beautifully warm + the sun was now setting so late in the day…
Speaking of long, warm summer nights. I unexpectedly started to really dig into the phases of the moon. All 8 of them that move through one moon cycle, from new moon to new moon. I have not yet completed this first phase yet because the next new moon is in a few days. But, I have to say that following the moon cycle, and all of the phases, has been absolutely improved even more my desire to live in the present moment.
May is also my baby’s birthday month!! So, of course, we celebrated all weekend long!
Nature, nature, nature!!! Flowers, flowers, flowers!!! May is freaking magical!
The month of May also brought me closer to the end of the school year. My students who were graduating this year started their high school journey at the same time I started my job as a mentor, so it meant that I’ve been super emotional + excited for them all at the same time. I’ve got a lot more to share with you about graduation + my amazing students, but I’ll save that for another post… because they actually graduated in June.
However, during the last week of May, the school celebrated an annual afternoon in the park tradition with the graduates. Games, bubbles, cake, and a little inspirational speech from me + Nadia (my mentor colleague). It was a beautiful, hot, emotional, fabulous afternoon!
Alright, there’s one more pretty big thing that I’d like to share with you. Lina + I have a super cozy backyard, but we’ve been missing some things that would make it even more over the top cozy. Soooo… we started looking at grills! But, turns out, a friend or a friend wanted to sell his + we said “Yes!” to take it off his hands!
One late night in May, he delivered the grill to us, we swished (aid with an app) him money, and BAM, our summer was set!
Of course, we needed a few more things to add to our little outdoor space, so we took a taxi to a store, stocked up on some furniture, and took a taxi bus home. And, let me just say… we’ve been enjoying it all ever since! Having this space fixed the way we envisioned it, has totally changed our life + upped our quality of life. We are out there all the time. Sipping water, reading, listening to podcasts, grilling yummy food, enjoying friends, being silent, drinking rose + beer, and taking it all slow + easy. It truly is absolutely perfect.
So, lovelies, as you can see, May was gorgeous and wonderful. It was absolutely life-giving for me. And, I must give deep thanks to the Nordic weather fairies for the indescribable weather we’ve had in Sweden.
And, with the end of May, I also ended my blog hiatus. And that feels so perfectly right to me. However, there is still much that I am working on in the background, for + with myself. So much that I am learning + living out.
But, for now, it’s Friday the 8th of June + my in-laws are in town. So, time for a little breakfast + then perhaps a drive out into the country. Who know? But, the sun is shining!!
Happy weekend, wild ones! xoxo. liz.
For some reason, I have been unable to just like your posts. It just says ‘loading…’ Anyway, great pics and I enjoyed hearing about your month of May!
Oh no! I wonder what the problem is. I’m glad that you commented anyway and shared with me that you liked this post. It really was a beautiful month. Hope you are well. xoxo
I don’t know what might be causing that, but it’s still doing it. I just checked. I’ve liked some other blogs on WordPress though which is really odd. xo
Gaaaah. I’ve worked on stuff from my end and I don’t know if I’ve fixed it. Thanks for trying so hard!! xo