By Aimee Urdiales | U-Ed Collaborative

Summer is here — and this year, I'm actually living it.

No guilt. No sneaking in lesson plans. No half-resting while mentally reorganizing my classroom. Just a real, full, joyful summer. And I want to show you exactly what that looks like, because I think it might be exactly what you need to see right now.

(Want the deeper conversation behind this post? Go listen to Episode 15 of Teaching Smart, Not Hard Podcast— I'm getting personal about why every teacher needs to do something just for them this summer. Link below!

For a long time, I was the teacher who spent summer "getting ready." You know the type — half-relaxing, half-feeling guilty about not planning, constantly one Target run away from reorganizing my whole classroom before August even arrived.

And then one summer, I decided to do something different. I decided to actually live my summer.

It was last summer, the summer after I was diagnosed and went through cancer treatments. Life is too short not to enjoy our summers; that is what I realized. Yes, we have work to do, but we will always have work to do—that’s who we are. Our summers are our time to do something for ourselves. Take the last week or two to focus on some work for next year, but your family and, more importantly, YOU need time to focus on what rejunvinates you. That is what this post is all about!

This post is about what that looks like for me — and why I think it might be exactly the permission slip you didn't know you needed.

Making Candles

Okay, full confession — this one actually started back in November, and I have not stopped since. I am a little obsessed.

There is something about the whole process — choosing the fragrance, measuring the wax, watching the slow pour settle into something beautiful — that I genuinely look forward to. My house smells amazing, my hands stay busy, and for that hour or two? My brain finally gets to just breathe.

No emails. No deadlines. No one needing anything from me. Just me, some wax, and a fragrance combo I'm convinced should be called "Saturday Morning."

If you've been curious about candle making, honestly — just try it. The startup cost is low, the learning curve is gentle, and the payoff (both the candles AND the mental reset) is so worth it.

You can see some of the candles that I made below or at https://maisonau.net

Creating Stationery

This one snuck up on me in the best possible way.

I started playing around with stationery design almost on a whim — and now I'm completely hooked. Choosing papers, playing with layouts, putting something together that's just pretty for the sake of being pretty. There's no rubric. There's no objective. It's just making something I love.

What I didn't expect was how much it would fill me up creatively. As teachers we make so many things — lesson materials, anchor charts, classroom displays — but always for someone else. Making something just for me, just because I wanted to? That hit differently.

Plus, I started sharing this creativity with my family and friends. I started making notebooks and stationery for my family and friends, then they asked for more—planners, personalized notepads, and the rest just started flowing. I love that I could make something personal for the people that I love. Then words spread, and now people are coming to me to make personalized stationery products for them. I am really enjoying it.

Notepads that I made for friend of mine.

If you have a creative itch you've been ignoring, this is your sign to scratch it. It doesn't have to be stationery. It just has to be yours.

The Beach

There is nothing — and I mean nothing — that resets me quite like the ocean.

I took a real vacation this summer. Not "bringing my laptop just in case." Not a professional development trip with a prettier backdrop. A real, honest-to-goodness trip where the only agenda was doing whatever I felt like that day.

The water. The salt air. The sound of waves that drown out absolutely everything else. I came back from that trip feeling like myself in a way I hadn't in months — and honestly, that feeling reminded me why protecting this time matters so much.

We stayed on the bay this summer in Pensacola, Florida. The beach was just across the street, but it didn’t matter. It is the calm of the water, the peace of being away, and the comfort of being with family that made ever minute the relaxation that I needed.

Book the trip. Take the time. You will not regret it.

Time With My People

Look at these faces. This right here is my favorite part of summer.

Long dinners on someone's back porch. A spontaneous girls' trip that came together in a group text. Staying up way too late talking about nothing and everything. This summer I've been saying yes to all of it — and my heart is so full because of it.

During the school year my social life basically runs on fumes and good intentions. Summer is when I actually show up. I text first. I make the reservation. I drive the distance. And every single time I do, I wonder why I ever let it slide.

Last minute get together with a close friend

And spending time with family is just as important-go to a movie, go out to dinner, just go get ice cream. We miss so many opportunities with our family during the school year; the summer is the time that we can make it up to them.

Spending time with my son doing something he loves!

Whoever your people are — call them. Make the plan. Don't let August arrive before you've actually spent real time with the ones who fill you up.

So What's YOUR Thing?

I've shown you mine — candles, stationery, the beach, my favorite people. Now I genuinely want to know yours.

What's the thing that's been sitting on the back burner? The hobby you keep meaning to try, the trip you keep almost booking, the friend you keep meaning to call? This summer is the time.

Here are a few ideas if you're drawing a blank:

Start that garden you've been pinning for three years
Read something purely for pleasure — novels count, cookbooks count, trashy beach reads absolutely count
Take a class in something you know nothing about
Cook something elaborate just because you feel like it
Build a slow morning routine and actually protect it

Whatever it is, do it without the asterisk. Do it without the "but I should probably also be getting ready for September." Do it because you are a whole person who deserves a whole summer — and that version of you is exactly who your students need in September.

Want to Make Your Summer More Intentional?

If this post resonated, I made two things you're going to want to know about:

Rest & Reset: A Summer Journal for Teachers — six weeks of guided reflection prompts that walk you through your summer with intention, not pressure. Built around my R.E.S.T. Reset framework and designed to get you to September feeling calm, grounded, and genuinely ready.

Episode 15 of Teaching Smart, Not Hard — the real talk behind this post. Come listen — and then go do your thing. 😊

Go live your summer, my educator friend. You've absolutely earned every second of it!