💭 The Joys of June with Daily Ocean Dips & Daydreams
Monthly reflection of June (Letter 217)
Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from Honolulu, Hawaii 🏝️
For all my readers, yesterday was the Fourth of July. For my American readers, that means it’s also Independence Day.
This celebration typically involves eating barbequed meat, watching fireworks, and enjoying cold brews outside with family.
Instead, I took off the pressure to go party and did some grounding activities. Like eating brunch at home, napping, getting muddy while hiking to a waterfall, and going to the cinema to see Inside Out 2. Damn, it feels good to do what I want instead of what I feel the world expects of me.
This letter is about to have a lot of photos. I’ve been feeling at a loss for words to fully show this life I live, so photos will do for now :)
Now, let’s dive into letter 217 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
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If you are new here or missed last week's edition, you can catch up on the past letters here. If you are reading this for the first time, I’d love you to sign up below to join the other learn-it-alls:
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❓Question to think about
What do I want to remember from June?
🤔 Reflecting
❤️ What I loved:
Daily dips in the ocean. They refreshed me each time.
How pushups each afternoon reminded me that I can become stronger.
Grilling yummy foods, playing mermaids, touring the community garden, and walking the dogs with friends.
Sailing a cal20 with my inventive roommate Em, who could jerry-rig the main sheet after it snapped out at sea. Thankfully, we still got to enjoy a nice sail.
Surfing with my friend Mary, who I coached on Opti sailing 9 years ago.
I went swimming with two Emilys in my life whom I love deeply.
Daydreaming.
Volunteering at a church and remembering how beautiful assembly lines are and how easy it is to feel impactful.
Monochromatic outfits.
The gregarious, outgoing quality that my parents instilled in me has enabled me to make friends easily.
Ziggy Alberts is a soulful Australian singer-songwriter known for his heartfelt lyrics and acoustic melodies. I saw him perform live, which meant cheesing for hours while performing with gratitude. He shared, “Music has been my doorway to humanity.”
Dancing at Electric Feels with friends. It was an all-time stimulation high.
Starting off the North Shore Summer open water Swim series. I felt like such a fast fish swimming in Waimea Bay, getting a personal record for 1.2 miles swimming at 1:30min/100-yard times and completing in 34:57.
Watching fireworks on Friday night with friends at Fort Derussy Beach Park.
Sending cards to international pen pals, friends, and family.
Saturdays on the north shore and cliff jumping.
Chats at cafes with dear friends.
Wearing babushkas and driving a convertible to a sunflower field for a day with the girls.
🤓What I learned:
I want to keep on shooting my shots, making connections no matter the connection.
No matter my path, any path I walk will be okay. I will make the most of it. I am an able-bodied woman.
I need weekly reflections to feel like a fresh start can begin. This includes cleaning my digital and physical desktops.
Habit trackers help me get out of a rut.
If I listen to myself with trust, I don’t need to seek external reassurance.
🤭 When I laughed:
My attempt at making Jell-O with POG juice. For those who don’t know what POG is, it’s a Hawaiian juice that mixes together passionfruit, orange, and guava juice. The juice is delish, but my dessert creation could use improvements.
Many more times I laughed this month but I forgot to document them. Oh well. Many more to come. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
❓Questions I asked:
If I could wave a wand and get whatever I wanted, what would it be?
When is it the right time to reapply sunscreen?
What is it about unconventional paths that attract me?
There were many, *many* more, but these ones were most frequently asked.
🖌️Things I created:
I wrote about:
The first product I ever launched on Gumroad is this notion template: a template for reflecting on the year's halfway mark.
A sketch of Waimea Bay led me to the realization that I don’t like sketching. I think watercolor would be a much more suitable medium for my art.
I baked a new banana bread each week, iterating each one with different ingredients. The one I like best uses coconut sugar instead of honey, Greek yogurt instead of oat milk, walnuts, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
🔭 Looking Forward in July
I’m excited that I joined a 30-day book writing challenge!
🎬 Watching
The 2021 movie "The Map of Tiny Perfect Things" follows the story of two teenagers, Mark and Margaret, who find themselves stuck in a time loop, repeatedly reliving the same day. Together, they set out to discover all the small, beautiful moments throughout their day. As they explore these "tiny perfect things," they develop a deep bond and uncover the reasons behind their predicament. Ultimately, they learn valuable lessons about love, life, and moving forward. I liked this movie a lot.
Here are two of my favorite quotes from it:
"Listen to me because I'm old and I know things. It's true that we're losing time every day, all the time, until one day it's all gone. But you're gaining it too. Every second, perfect moments, one after the other, until, by the end, you have your whole life. You have everything. And it costs you everything. But it's worth it. I promise that it's worth it. " — Margaret’s dying mother
"Most of life is just junk, right? It's filler. And then...there's these moments when all the randomness turns into something perfect. It's like life's dropping all the bullshit just for a second to show us how amazing it could be all the time if it wanted to."
🎧Listening
“Flowers in Your Hair” /by The Lumineers
When we were younger, we thought
Everyone was on our side, then we grew a little
And romanticized the time I saw
Flowers in your hairSee, it takes a boy to live
It takes a man to pretend he was thereSo then we grew a little and knew a lot
And now we demonstrated it to the cops
And all the things we said
We were self-assured'Cause it's a long road to wisdom
But it's a short one to bein' ignoredBe in my eyes
And be in my heart
Be in my eyes, aye, aye, aye
Be in my heart
🌟Five Quotes to inspire
“We are what we repeatedly do. “ — Aristotle
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage.” —Dale Carnegie
“Passion is found in the service of others.” — Jay Shetty
“Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” — Matthew 7:7
“My grandmother was gone before I learned the lesson her letters were teaching: survival lies in sanity, and sanity lies in paying attention… My grandmother knew what a painful life has taught her: success or failure, the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is always in proportion to the capacity for delight. the capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.“ — Julia Cameron from The Artist’s Way (53)
🙏Shoutouts
To
for the podcast recTo Jamie Humphrey for the movie rec
All the friends featured in the mems above, including Emwag, Emrose, Stef, Tom, Maddie, Sara, Amanda, Marta, and Sam
I appreciate you reading this!
If ideas resonate, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetjl@gmail.com. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.
Keep on learning 😁
Mahalo 🌺
Jen
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Loved this one so much! You are beaming with so much joy, gratitude, and inspiration xx
...we are what we repeatedly do...and today I profoundly accept my life as a dog walker...