Intellectualism is the combination of dexterity and self-actualization. In any depth or fashion, to waste time not bettering one’s mind is to throw away mental potential. The summer sets times of growth and enlightenment parallel in one’s life. To enjoy the crop in the fall, one must grow and persevere in the summer. Do not let this summer pass you by. Do not deprive your mind this season. Do not let your potential escape you.

Read. Read everyday, despite the circumstances. Finding time to read everyday will provide order and discipline in a free, structureless state of time; giving you focus and clarity in everything you do. When you read, read for understanding and personal gain. Unlike school, you choose what to read, so make the most of the time you have. When you understand the text, you draw parallelisms throughout almost everything. To understand the text is to understand concepts, to understand places, to understand people, to understand yourself. But understanding does not all come from within literature, it comes from the world surrounding us.

If you are having trouble choosing a good book to read, here are a few of my personal favorites:

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• 1984 by George Orwell
• Howl & Other Poetry by Allen Ginsberg
• The Reason Why by Cecil Woodham-Smith
• The Devil In Massachusetts by Marion L. Starkey
• Lost Highway by David Lynch
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

To enhance your summer and strengthen your mind, explore this world. Capture its beauties and horrors in all of their glory. When observing the background rather than the foreground, you see things you wouldn’t normally notice and experience something special and something you. You are subject to the real world experiences to learn and take in, and apply them to situations throughout your whole life. Talk less and think more. Observe and take in more. Capture each moment as it comes to you and take in everything you can. Develop your character and show it.

In the summer, the most precious element is time. With school being out of session for the season, you are liberated from the chains of redundancy and linear thought; take advantage of this time. Harness your craft and perfect it, express your mind to the world, take the time to be the best you can be at where ever your passion lays. Whether it is playing football, running, painting, writing, or playing an instrument, better yourself because devotion and time pay off.