It’s post-midterms, and the only thing you need more than anything in the world is for Spring Break to arrive. Unfortunately, Spring Break goes alarmingly faster than it comes, and before you know it, you’re in a car with your mom on your way to the airport, repacked and wishing you could rewind back to those beautiful first few days of vacation.
The realization that it’s back to exams and public bathrooms is one that hits ya right in the soft spot, so here are the 6 stages of post-Spring Break grief.
1. Shock and Denial
Just hours ago you were doing one of three things:
- Doing nothing in bed,
- Doing nothing with friends, or
- Doing nothing in your tropical or exciting destination of choice.
Now, you have been ripped away of your fun times & tan lines, forced to squander up the energy to get on back to class. You keep on your sunglasses and keep the Netflix rolling, because you refuse to believe that Spring Break could possibly be over if it just started.
2. Pain and Guilt
All of the sudden you have that feeling in your gut: the feeling that only a college student’s body has the power of knowing. Your stomach is in literal knots because it’s realizing you’re about to switch back to dining hall food and meal plan sandwiches that you really didn’t miss.
This pain then brings up undeniable guilt— did I waste too much time eating snacks at home when I could have been eating at my favorite restaurants? Why didn’t I ask my mom to make my fave pasta one last time? Yep, the guilt over the homemade food that could have been is undeniable.
3. Anger
The anger starts to kick in pretty quickly as you realize Spring Break is only a week, when clearly you need at least two to complete all the fun stuff you had planned. Instead, your Spring Break was either not enough time to get the tan you wanted or just enough time to get through all those dentist appointments and check-ups your mom set up for you. Either option is equally disappointing, to say the least, and you hate that you didn’t appreciate those few short days while they lasted.
4. Bargaining
When all you want is for just one more day back, you begin to bargain for more break: if I switch my flights and work really super (kind of) hard at school, will I get a little bit more Spring Break? Despite any of the bargains you may try to make, class will resume, as always. You can’t keep your MWF or your TR homies waiting, all bargains aside.
5. Depression
Post-break sadness usually starts with the fading of your perfect vacation tan or the end of the series on Netflix you started. The skies ahead of you are filled with exams and papers. You’re leaving the trip you’ve been looking forward to since the day Winter Break ended, and with the end of the semester still so far away, the post-Spring Break sadness is a blues that nothing else compares to.
6. Acceptance
As you settle back into your normal school routine and are reunited with your friends, you begin to accept that Spring Break needs to end. Without it, Summer would never come, you’d never see your friends again. And you’d never get closer to #gettinthatdegree. So don’t worry, there’s much more to come now that your Spring Break has come to a close.
