Dear Summer 2025

It took me one full year to know how I truly felt about you.

For so long, I thought of you as some of the toughest months of my life. I felt stuck and deeply discontent with how I was spending my days. I was fed up with Corporate America and desperate to leave a job that I felt like I had no interest in. What made it even more frustrating was that I could feel a new identity growing—the creative part of my being— that desperately needed fertile ground.

Every day felt heavy. A single day’s worth of work brought so much dread and anxiety. And without quitting, I couldn’t see any plausible way out.

All I wanted was an escape.

Looking back now, I realize you weren’t trying to trap me. You were trying to prepare me.

You pushed me to limits I didn’t know I could withstand. You taught me that seasons aren’t meant to be rushed or skipped. They ask something of you before they give something back.

More than anything, you taught me that growth rarely happens in comfort. You need the rain if you ever expect to enjoy the harvest.

You became the birthplace of so many things I now hold close. You gave me the courage to share my story, and in doing so, I found community. What once felt isolating became something that connected me to others.

Summer 2025, I’ll never forget how you changed me.

You weren’t the season I wanted, but you were the season I needed. You taught me resilience when I preferred relief. You taught me patience when I wanted immediate answers.

You weren’t the ending I was hoping for, but you were the beginning I couldn’t recognize.

And now, Summer 2026 is that much sweeter.

xoxo,

Leticia