After a hectic school year with an endless stream of homework and tests, summer is finally here. But being dropped from the busyness of academic life into the scorching void of summer, you might find yourself at a loss for what to do. You want to enjoy your long-deserved break, but you also have to do something, or else you'll go stir-crazy.
To help, here are five ways to get the most out of your summer.
1. Relax.
This may sound counter-intuitive, but it's a chance to indulge yourself. Set aside a certain amount of time to just be lazy, whether it's a weekend, a week, or even a whole month. Stay up late, sleep in, binge-watch your favorite TV shows, stuff yourself with as much junk food as you want, etc.
While it sounds like a typical summer, the goal is that it shouldn't be your whole summer. If you start feeling antsy and restless when you start nearing the end of your designated lazy time, good. This means you're ready to move on to the next step and actually start being productive.
2. Revisit an old hobby (or pick up a new one).
If you're like me, anything can be used as a means of distraction or procrastination during the school year, which means that all personal hobbies have to be put on hold in order to keep up grades.
But now that I have a lot of free time on my hands, I can afford to brush up on old skills or learn new ones. I usually take the summer to pick up the guitar again, read books that have been waiting on my shelf, or teach myself something interesting. In the past, I've taught myself how to crochet and make some origami.
Figure out what you're interested in and don't be afraid to explore your options and have some fun with it.
3. Set daily tasks for yourself.
During the summer, it can be incredibly easy to fall into a state of lethargy and a schedule with no rhyme or reason. To combat this, try setting small tasks for yourself to do each day. If it sounds or feels to repetitive, then alternate different tasks for different days.
Personally, I try to walk the family dog every day, giving both her and myself a breath of fresh air. I also try to tidy up my room and do serious exercise every other day.
This makes sure that summer life has some semblance of order and productivity, rather than just doing nothing all day every day.
4. Get organized.
If you have a busy school year ahead, now would be a great time to start planning for it, or at least get into the habit of efficiently doing so.
I tend to be a pretty disorganized and forgetful person. I need reminders on my phone for everything, from what time I need to meet up with a friend to how much water I need to drink. I can only depend on my phone for so much though.
Because of this, I recently started bullet journaling to get my life more organized and give myself enough time to get used to it before I really need it when school starts again.
Again, do what suits you best, but make sure you're consistent and become familiar with a routine.
5. Worried about "summer brain drain"? Work at it.
I've always had "summer brain drain" happen to me where most of my learning mysteriously disappeared over the long break, but I didn't learn the term for it until recently.
If you're worried that being out of school for too long will cause brain drain, then one option is to take some summer classes.
This doesn't mean pack your schedule to the brim, because what's the point of making summer school as stressful as regular school? It's more about keeping your mind engaged on an academic level.
If you still have some gen eds to fulfill, go ahead and take an online course for it at your local community college.
You can also look around for a summer job or internship to get some experience and fill out your resume. You'll be keeping your hands busy and maybe even get some money out of it.
Summer is a great time to spend with friends and have fun, but it can also get boring pretty fast. By trying out the things listed above, you can hopefully make your summer into a productive one too.
