A Couple’s Guide to the Summer Solstice

Summer solstice of 2018, Larry and I hiked up to St. Mary’s Glacier for a summer solstice ski! At the top we had our own solstice ceremony complete with goal setting, burning our worries on pieces of paper, and creating theme words for the year to come. 

That was one of our first dates together and with two years of traveling and celebrations behind us, we are still tweaking our solstice plans. Each solstice is a time to pause and appreciate the nature around us. Whether it is the summer solstice, celebrating the longest day of sunlight, or the winter solstice, celebrating the longest day of darkness, we like to find a way to connect. This year we celebrated with a high alpine kayak that was much colder than expected! We packed a picnic and headed out to Clinton Gulch Reservoir where we enjoyed our snacks while taking in the mountains around us.  After letting the waves carry us to the far end of the lake, the wind picked up and we had a thrilling paddle back head on into a stiff breeze.  It was a good reminder that Colorado can easily experience bits of all the seasons in one day. 

I like to use the solstice to make big plans and goals. I personally find it more fun and inspiring to make goals in the summer than in a typical New Year’s fashion. If there are goals for the year though, this is the perfect time to revisit those and edit anything to stay on track.  It’s nice to reflect on aspects of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being and check in to see what needs some extra attention.  Overall themes in these areas can then be distilled down to a word or phrase to use as guidance for the season to come and carry us through to the next solstice..  It’s also important to celebrate the changing seasons and have a little fun.  Some other activities for the summer solstice that we’ve liked include cooking together, going on a long hike, going backpacking, going out to a nice meal, skiing (on the little patches of snow we can find), and spending time on the beach.

Throwback to our first summer solstice together in 2018