Why Summer Feels Different

Jamey (00:04.312)
So over the past few weeks, we've been exploring a really simple idea. not that summer is somehow magical, but that summertime in this season restores many of the conditions that our brains evolved within. So we've talked about walking, about morning light. We've talked about doing absolutely nothing outside for just a few minutes, or spending more time with the people around us. And today I want to ask a slightly different question.

Why is it that summer feels so different? It's not just warmer, it's different. And maybe you've noticed it. You stay outside a little bit longer after dinner. You stop to watch that sunset. You take a walk because the evening is beautiful. The kids stay outside until the fireflies come out. You linger around the campfire or the backyard fire pit. You know, you laugh a little bit more, you worry a little bit less. Life feels fuller.

You feel more present, you feel more alive, right? And I don't think that's nostalgia, and I don't think it's the better weather. I think it's something that's much more deep than that. I think summer reveals something. Because for a few months every year, many of us accidentally reconnect with the conditions that our brains evolved within. And when we do that, we say we feel alive. So today I want to share.

Three reasons why I think that happens. And the first is that in the summer, your world gets bigger. So have you ever watched a sunset on vacation or looked up at the stars while you were camping or, you know, outdoors in the summer in the warm weather, or set out in the woods for a walk or a hike. And suddenly all those little things that you've been worried about didn't seem quite as important anymore. This feeling has a name.

And it's called awe. A-W-E, awe. Psychologists have found that experiences of awe don't just make us feel good, they actually change the way we think. And research shows that awe can reduce self-focus. So the ability to not focus so much internally on all the things about you and this kind of self-focused, self-centeredness, but they can increase feelings of connection with yourself and your environment.

Jamey (02:28.716)
And they can even make people more generous afterwards, which is pretty impressive, right? Standing on a mountain or walking, walking on a path in a vast valley, or watching a thunderstorm roll in, or looking up at the Milky Way in the middle of the night. None of those experiences solve any of the problems you have, but somehow they are able to change your relationship with them. Your perspective expands, your worries shrink.

And to me, that's got to be one of the greatest gifts of summer. We are simply outside long enough to notice it in the summer. The the changing sky, the mountains, the stars, the fireflies. The beauty was always there and is always there. It's just waiting for a time when we happen to look up and focus our attention on it. So the second thing is that your brain rediscovers curiosity.

There's something magical that summer gives us that I think we often underestimate. And I know I said summer isn't magic, so whatever, it's magic, I swear. But it's not. It's the opportunity to explore. No, no, no. I don't like that. Let's go back, Evan.

Jamey (04:03.63)
So there's something else that Summer gives us, which is opportunities to explore. And one of the fascinating things that we collectively have learned about the brain is that novelty activates many of the same systems in your brain that are involved in learning and motivation as well. Which is interesting because, in other words, basically your brain is wired to explore because exploration helped our ancestors survive.

Needing to find a new water source, discovering a better path, learning a different way to solve a problem. And today, exploration can sometimes look a little bit different, or oftentimes very much the same. You know, we take a new hiking trail, we eat dinner on the deck instead of in the kitchen, we take the scenic route home because the weather's nice and you want to roll the windows down and listen to a song. We swim in a lake. We go to an outdoor concert. We take our kids somewhere that they've never been before in their lives.

And these aren't dramatic life changes. They're tiny reminders that the world is bigger than yesterday's routine. And I think that's one of the reasons that summer stays with so many of us, more so than any other season. We don't remember it because it's warmer, we remember it because we explored more.

And as I was putting this episode together, I slowly realized something about everything we've been talking about. Thinking about walking and morning light and doing nothing outside, thinking about being with people and the idea of awe and exploration. They all have something in common. They pull us into the present moment. And one of the fascinating things about attention is that we tend to remember the moments that we are fully present for.

When we're engaged, our brains encode and remember those experiences much more deeply than if we are partially engaged or distracted. And that's, I think, very likely one of the reasons that many of our favorite memories happen in summer. That campfire, the baseball game, being at the lake, the fireworks, watching your kids chase lightning bugs. None of these moments are necessarily extraordinary while they're happening, but somehow they become the moments that we tend to remember.

Jamey (06:21.196)
Right? Because for a little while we were actually there. We were present in the moment. What Summer's doing is it's interrupting our autopilot. It's reminding us that life isn't only happening inside our calendars or on our inboxes, in our inboxes or on our phones. It's happening all around us all the time.

And I think this brings us back to kind of everything we've talked about over the past several weeks, thinking about summer, thinking about walking and morning light and quiet moments outside, awe, curiosity, presence. Here's what I find so fascinating as we get into all of these ways to make the most of your summer, as it were. None of this is new to you, right? You don't need me or a neuroscience research to convince you that these things truly matter. You've already felt it.

Right? You felt the calm that comes after an evening walk. You felt your shoulders relax while you're sitting around a campfire or someone's backyard's someone's backyard fire pit. You felt the perspective that comes from watching a sunset. You felt how much easier conversations become when you're sitting outside with friends rather than inside. You felt how a few days away in nature somehow leaves you feeling more like yourself.

And this is not a coincidence. It's our biology. Modern life has pulled us away from so many of the conditions that our brains evolved to expect and that our brains need to thrive. We have less movements, we have less sunlight, less time outside, less quiet, less connection. And then almost by accident, summer gives us a few of those things back. Not all of it, not fully.

But enough that millions of us say the same thing every summer. I just felt more alive. Because we were. It's not magic, it's biology. Our brains are finally receiving more of what they've been missing this entire time. And to me, that's the real invitation this summer. Not to have the perfect vacation or optimize every moment or squeeze in every single adventure you can, but simply to notice, to be present.

Jamey (08:42.092)
And to take small steps to amplify what summer's already giving us, to recognize that the feeling that you've had probably your entire life that summer is special. And then let me go back.

Jamey (09:01.708)
And to me, that's the real invitation this summer. Not to have the perfect vacation or optimize every single moment, not to squeeze in one last adventure around every turn, but really simply to notice, to be present, and to take small steps to amplify what summer is already giving you. To recognize the feeling you've probably had your whole entire life that summer is special. And then take it one step further by asking yourself.

How can I keep a little bit of summer with me when the season inevitably changes? Maybe that's your morning walk routine. Maybe that's having your coffee outside. Or making sure that you have a weekday dinner with friends, watching one more sunset, even when it's getting a little chilly, or sitting quietly under a tree. Because the summer won't last forever. But the conditions that make us feel fully alive don't belong to summer. They belong to us.

We've just forgotten how much we need them. So thank you for joining me on this little summer journey. And I'll see you next time on Nextdoor Neuro.