Sunday Essays #20: The Midsummer Whisper.

Diving into your brain on a lazy summer afternoon.

If you had told me my clearest thinking all summer would come to me while I was in the process of diving 6 feet below the oncoming waves off the South Shore of Long Island, I’d think you were nuts.

But there I was.

Fighting the counterforces of a sloppy but powerful waist-high set and the outgoing riptide as I surfaced.

Oddly at peace.

Despite the white water of the next set staring me down and the fussy lifeguards who told me I “only had 10 minutes in there because it was the surfing section” (🙄), this feeling couldn’t be shaken.

Perhaps it was because the phone (and its legion of notifications) was tucked away in my hat on the shore.

But I don’t think that’s it.

It was the pause of midsummer, and it took being thrown around in the ocean for me to really unlock it.

The Days Are Just Packed

This was one of my favorite books growing up.

(Also- yes, it’s where the header pic came from, full credit don’t copyright strike me)

Sure, it was lighthearted and feel good, but the premise was something deeper:

Calvin and Hobbes’ daily shenanigans in that brief pocket of time in late July and early August where things are just….quiet.

They hang out in treehouses all day.

Play baseball.

Nap.

In the adult world, the days are equally as '“packed”:

OOO’s.

Cape Cod, Europe, out East.

Summer Fridays, half-days, etc.

Congress is on recess, the World Cup is over.

The weather guy says it’s gonna be 94’ today.

Yankees win.

Mets lose.

It’s almost eerily quiet.

That’s why…

You Gotta Use It

No, not like that.

This isn’t your competition is sleeping bro gotta get ahead!!1!

It’s more like:

Take this little pocket of time and shut your brain all the way off to see what was really deep inside.

Treasure the fact that the seemingly ever-present boogeyman of external stimuli aren’t present.

Biz is slower than usual, school is out.

I’m not saying jump into the riptide-laden ocean with a devil may care attitude.

In fact I’d probably advise against that.

But if you can seek out some peace and solitude, in whatever way that looks for you, the rush of inner clarity will meet you as well.

You’ll find out what you actually want, and perhaps more importantly-

what you don’t want.

Sticky situations seem less imposing while optimism about potential good things grows.

The world shouts at us for eleven months, but the midsummer whispers.

Get It Before It’s Gone

Not the hard sell!

But think about it logically for a moment.

Time flies.

Before you know it, you need that sweatshirt in your beach bag because it gets chilly after 3 o’ clock.

You don’t see your neighbor who jogs past your house every morning like clockwork anymore because they’re back at school.

The dreaded “Bro you gotta join our Fantasy league it’s 0.5 PointsPerWhatever and the Draft is late August and..” texts come in.

(STOP I DON’T CARE!!)

Point is.

It’ll be here before you know it.

It’s going to get noisy and the schedules will get packed.

The summer trip and beach day photos are banished to the annals of the iCloud Library, never to be looked at again.

Life moves on.

Except it can be different this time.

You made the effort to sit with what was in the deep recesses of your mind.

A blissful midsummer moment of self-honesty and introspection.

Suddenly, the crazy months and rigor of real life don’t look so daunting anymore.

The noise is coming back…but this time it won’t drown you out.

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Chat again soon.

(I hope you read this at the beach)

-John Abbate

7.26.2026