HOWEVER, it can be very exhausting to be your person. When everyone around you has a person (or people), it can feel very lonely. My friends have children or partners, and it can feel burdensome to offload onto them. At times it can feel like an inconvenience or interruption. It doesn't feel fair to ask for someone's time when they have a family to tend to and only so many hours in a day and so much emotional capacity. It feels very selfish to impose.

In August, I was able to crush my reading goals, and I am extremely proud of myself. Last month, I started Weyward by Emilia Hart, but it got set aside because all of my holds from the library came through at the same time. It’s why I started with Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren, which technically was an August read but was discussed in my July post.

While I don't find myself in my "Summer Stephanie" mode of my 20s, there is an element of it that has formed for me this summer. You can see a pattern emerge of my three favorite places being ones where I simply exist in the moment. I go there to reflect and decompress and question my life choices. Who do I want to be and where do I think I am heading? Escaping into the beloved and safe spaces allowed for me to listen to myself and be at peace. Contentment was always found in