Summer arrives and, with him, a strange desire for renewal. As soon as the suitcase is posed, we dream of another us: more daring, more alive, freer. New cut, new style, new way of life … The phenomenon is recurrent, almost ritual. This need for transformation that accompanies the holidays is not trivial. It touches something deep in us, both psychic and existential. Why does this moment of break active such an impulse of change? What does she say about our relationship to ourselves?
Holidays: a field of psychic experimentation
To leave is to cut. Cut with schedules, obligations, usual looks. This rupture creates what psychologists call a transitional space: a kind of neutral zone where one can experiment with other versions of oneself.
“”This moment of floating between two frames – neither completely at home nor quite elsewhere – acts as an internal laboratory. We allow ourselves desires that we repress the rest of the year“, Explains Christian Richomme, psychoanalyst, author and therapist in Paris, specialist in anxiety disorders, depression, addictions and emotional disorders. Without pressure from social gaze or routine, the superego (this interior voice that judges us) lowers the guard. Places spontaneity, creativity … but also sometimes impulsive decisions.
Reinvent yourself … or flee what we really are?
Changing on vacation is sometimes reconnecting with a part of yourself set aside. A more assertive look, a softer rhythm, a freer body. For some, it is liberating, almost therapeutic.
But for others, this change is a mask. We invent a fantasized version of ourselves, to seduce, to forget, to flee a daily life that no longer suits us. This desire to be “another” can translate a deeper discomfort, a need for psychological escape as well as physical.
Should we give in to this desire to change everything in summer? Absolutely. Provided you wonder: is it a superficial drive or reflecting a real need? Because behind each summer metamorphosis, there is a message to hear. And perhaps, a better version of us waiting just a beach to hatch.
The quest for renewal, a need registered in us
Our brain likes novelty: it stimulates, it invigorates, it breaks monotony. From a more archaic point of view, to change is to prove that we are still alive, that we evolve.
A tattoo, an extreme sport, a flashy wardrobe: these gestures are often more symbolic. They embody the need to regain control over his identity, to mark a break, even a turning point.
And at the start of the school year, what remains?
The tan fades, the tattoos hide, and the resolutions often fade with the return of everyday life. But something persists. A trace. A small interior offset. Sometimes the holidays sowed a sustainable change seed. They make it possible to dare to consider another way of being yourself … even after the return.