“Healing girl summer” is the new “hot girl summer” for some young women.

“Healing girl summer” is the new “hot girl summer” for some young women. While many young consumers were banking on “hot vaxx summer” this year, others are dubbing it “healing girl summer”—a.k.a. a season dedicated to “becoming a healthier version of [oneself].” Content creator Helena Honey Selassie first embraced the term on TikTok after one user commented on her video saying “OK hot girl summer,” realizing that she wasn’t truly experiencing a “hot girl summer” but instead using the season to rediscover herself and practice more self-care. Following this realization, Selassie created a healing girl summer series to share her experience on TikTok, which has helped grow her followership from 50,000 to 240,000 followers from the series alone. Angel Dy is another influencer creating similar content with her “changing my life forever” series on TikTok that covers “healthy girl summer” tips and her experience with choosing singledom over the constant cycle of relationships. Still, “hot girl summer” and “healing girl summer” can coexist as one psychotherapist notes, emphasizing how the two ideas can serve as self-care as long as one doesn’t lose their sense of self. YPulse’s Extended Singledom trend research found that women are two times more likely to say they’re single because they need to focus on themselves, and with the pandemic vastly changing the dating scene for most, many young women are using this time to prioritize their mental health and explore relationships with themselves. (NYT)