Oh, college summers. I have such a love-hate relationship with you. You seem to be just what the doctor ordered after a long hard semester of homework, tests, and stress. You seemed to be the breath of fresh air that everyone was desperately in need of, but then, of course, reality set in when I began to ask everyone what they had planned for break. Every reaction that I got back seemed to be pretty similar. They would usually sigh and respond back with the classic: "I'm just going to be working all summer. I probably won't be doing anything too exciting."
It seems that college leaves us high and dry in every possible way. Not only are we far away from everything we just learned to be normal, but we are also left for the most part extremely broke. I think this has become the norm for all college students. We are forced to spend the summer playing catch up to fix the damage done to our bank accounts throughout the year. I have found myself caught up in this terrible trap, and if there's one thing I've learned it's that being an adult, or even kind of an adult, sucks.
Now, I'm not saying that everyone should go quit their jobs right now and become world travelers because that's just unrealistic, but I do think we are doing it all wrong. In this society, many of us have fallen into the idea that work has to consume your life once you are an adult.
People practically become their jobs these days.
Just think about it. When you first meet someone, what is one of the first questions you ask? People jump straight to asking what you do and where you work. I have always seen this happen with adults around me, but it wasn't until I was asked this question recently that I really noticed just how engulfed we are in work, and more importantly comparing jobs with other people. It seems as though it almost becomes a competition at this point.
I think we can only blame society for this. We live in a society where everyone is living to work instead of working so they can live. I think the problem is that a lot of us see working as the endgame. You get the job that pays you well, or in the case of the college student, you just get the job, and once you have it, it's almost as though you can stop. There is so much more out there than to just work. We are at a time in our lives where we get an entire three months to decide what to do with. This is something that just doesn't exist in the real world, so enjoy it while you've got it. Yes, you should work, but work with a purpose. Work so you can live a life you love. Work so you can take adventures, even if it's something small. Go see something new, and please work to live. Life's too short to live for work.
