The Art of Simply Rotting: Heat Wave Season

   July is the month where weather becomes belligerent and you recall your friends claiming that they’d be active after exams, but the group chat goes silent again because there is nothing to talk about. Hangouts at the tiny cafe become draining as caffeine shots do nothing but keep you up all night.

Every student collectively enters a strange limbo between freedom and impending results. 

Acknowledging the fact that while summer holidays are technically ongoing, many of you remain haunted by a particular phenomenon known as “checking the results portal even though nothing has been released yet.”

As this matter cannot currently be resolved, the Leisure Council (a mere content writer actually) presents a more practical solution.

The Ultimate Summer Watchlist

Since the average attention span during the heat wave has been scientifically reduced to approximately 3 minutes, the Leisure Council has approved a carefully curated selection of media to consume while lying directly beneath a fan. Whether you seek romance, mystery, nostalgia, or a television series capable of occupying your entire month, suitable options have been provided below: 

For the Romantics

• Bridgerton
• Legally Blonde
• Off Campus
• Every Summer After (summer coded)
• Voicemails to Isabelle
• The Oxford Year

For Mystery & Thriller Lovers

• We Were Liars
• 56 Days
• The Housemaid
• Pretty Little Liars

For Long Summer Binges

• The Vampire Diaries (my personal favourite)
• Skins
• Brooklyn 99

Book Binge

Personally, I seize every opportunity to prattle about books to anyone at all for I was born a writer and a reader at heart with an unflinching ability to endlessly convince (force) the victims of these conversations to read what I’ve told them to. 

• White Nights — for those who enjoy a classic beautiful melancholy.
• Perks of Being a Wildflower — heartfelt and comforting.
• Dead Poet’s Society — may alter your brain chemistry.
• A First Time For Everything — light-hearted and easy to devour.
• Never Thought I’d End Up Here — adventurous and a little romantic.
• If He Had Been With Me — emotionally devastating in the best way.
• If We Were Villains — theatre and thriller kids, this one's for you. 
• The Girl On The Train — if you enjoy unreliable narrators and suspense.
• That’s Not My Name — such an emotional mystery that keeps you guessing (bawled my eyes on the ending)
• Every Summer After — peak summer nostalgia.
• The Last Time I Lied — camp, secrets, and suspense.
• A Slow Burning Fire — layered mystery with multiple perspectives.
• Not Quite Dead Yet — for thriller lovers seeking something different.

Awakening of A New Normal

Sleep Schedule Crimes

• Staying up late till it’s 4AM and birds start singing.
• If you wake up after 11AM, it still counts as morning.

Certified Rotting Activities

• Wearing pyjamas all day is acceptable attire.
• Scrolling until your eyes are sore.
• Watching an entire season in one day.
• Opening the fridge repeatedly knowing nothing new has appeared.
• Taking selfies rotting on your bed.

Questionable Life Decisions

• Start writing a book but then quitting.
• Apply to numerous internships then leave them all on seen except one.
• Eating lots of cookie dough until a stomach-ache overcomes.
• Gaslight your dad into buying you ten novels that you will probably finish in under twenty days.
• Binge snacking.
• Or be a dork and take classes for your October/November session (guilty).

One Stupidly Easy Recipe 

Eventually, however, one reaches the stage of summer where boredom becomes so severe that consuming food transforms into a recreational activity.

Three-minute Mug Cake: Difficulty level: If you can stir, you can make this.

Ingredients

• 4 Oreo cookies
• 3 tablespoons milk
•  A microwave-safe mug

Directions

• Place the Oreos in the mug and crush them into small pieces.
• Add the milk and mix until it becomes a thick batter.
• Microwave for 60–90 seconds.
• Allow it to cool for a minute (if you possess self-control).
• Eat directly from the mug.

Of course, summer is not entirely composed of sleeping at unreasonable hours and developing an emotional attachment to snack foods because on a serious note…

Beyond the educational targets or a drive to perfect your college application, there lies a soul that requires as much attention as the physical self, so take a moment to: 

• Journal everything you have been keeping in before it blows up.
• Update your diary about every witty moment and record it. 
• Curate multiple scrapbooks with your favourite people, marking every small occurrence.
• Plan gifts in advance for upcoming birthdays.
• Deep clean your room for that represents your mental state because a disorganised space leads to a set of disoriented thoughts.
• Record vlogs with your digital camera.
• Make a shopping wish list and fulfil it one by one for you deserve to enjoy good things as much as you work for them.
• Sit with your family talking about nothing.
• Stare into a wall and keep thinking until you realise thoughts do not have a conclusion so you actually take the initiative to change what you want.
• Make music, write a book, try singing. Challenge yourself for yourself.

Closing Remarks

As young students, social media trends often play a role in setting the standard for the “Perfect Summer”. When you are not constantly hiking up a green mountain or deep diving into the crystal-clear waters of Maldives, it can be easy to feel insecure or as though you are falling behind.

But ask yourself: beyond the aesthetic appeal of these viral videos, would you genuinely enjoy engaging in these activities or, are they simply things you feel compelled to do so you can post them on Instagram and wait for someone to validate your summer?

If you truly want to jog to your local beach, sit down to witness the sunrise and read there, there is nothing lesser about wanting something as simple as that.

Summer holidays pave a way for you to rediscover joy in the little things and reconnect with the very parts of yourself that may have been suppressed by the hectic, popularity centred, and often judgemental environment of high school.

And thus concludes the Leisure Council orientation: permission has been granted to rest, read, watch questionable amounts of television, and occasionally do something meaningful in between.