Many people are diligently awaiting summer to be on vacation, have fun, and have no school. There are s0 many movies and TV shows that set high expectations for summer and make it out to be the most enjoyable time of year. Many shows depict it as a time of  never-ending parties, friends, beach-trips, and fun, but it doesn’t always turn out this way. Because of this, many people are often let down by the true reality of summer.

In shows, such as “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” there seems to always be parties and new friends and boyfriends/girlfriends. Though this does happen to some, the summer portrayed in the show is almost never lived up to in real life. Summer is heavily romanticized in these shows, so many people become attached to the good idea of summer being never ending hang-outs and good times.

Because of the movies and shows that portray these false realities of summer, people get very excited for the season and crave the need to be with friends at the beach and tan all the time. So, people can be led to being severely let down when it’s not the perfect fantasy they envisioned. 

Summer is definitely favored by many because school is out and there is much less school-related stress and way more freetime. Though this may seem like a dream for most, many people can feel saddened by the idea of no school with friends,  may develop other forms of anxiety, or feel pressured into doing work because of how one can become “lazy” in the break. This pressure includes the pressure to sustain sports through summer. Simran Vaswani (9) believes that she always has “high expectations for summer, but they aren’t always met.” She feels like every summer is a “hit or miss” depending on a variety of factors, such as opportunities, friends, trips, etc.

Despite all this, your summer is ultimately what you make of it! If you want the glam and paradise of a Hollywood summer, you must set out for it. It may seem out-of-touch and out of sight to have a summer like it, but it just takes good ideas with good friends to make your dream summer! You can go out for ice cream, go to the beach, go to amusement parks, go to the movies, and much more. The possibilities are endless for the most perfect summer that you could ever wish for.