Your last summer as a kid.

You just beat high school, the final boss. Respect. But don’t close the game just yet! This summer is the secret level between worlds, and it doesn’t show up on any map.

What to do: Say yes more. Take the drive with no destination. Work the mediocre job for the good stories. Stay up too late with the people who made the hard days easier. Revisit your favorite childhood haunts: the park, the diner, the bedroom that’s about to become a memory. You’re not wasting time. You’re collecting side quests, and side quests are where the real XP is.

How to feel: Excited and terrified. Nostalgic and ready to go. Grief and celebration can occupy the same save file. If you cry saying goodbye to something small (your locker, a tree, that seat in the cafeteria), that’s not weakness, that’s proof it mattered.

What to let go: The GPA. The regret about the thing you didn’t say or the team you didn’t make. The idea that you need a five-year plan before September. Drop the extra weight from your inventory. You don’t need it for what’s next, and it’s just slowing you down.

What to carry forward: The friends who feel like home base. The teacher who believed in you before you believed in yourself. The version of you who tried something scary and survived. Pack light but pack true.

You are standing at the edge of the overworld, and everything beyond this point is unmapped. So go outside. Make noise. Hug your people like the credits are about to roll — because in a way, they are.

Take this. It’s dangerous to go alone.