It's finally summer and the travels, late nights and lack of productive behaviors have begun. Yes, finally, summer is here, and with it come the days of less stress and more free time, right? Wrong.
On Monday classes will begin again for the first summer session, and for some of us, that is a hard pill to swallow. Finals for the spring semester bring with them as much stress and sorrow as they do joy and relief when they are finally over, and we have suffered through with good grades as a result. While we should spend the summer being productive, the two weeks that we were given to enjoy fell oh-so-short of our expectations in the relief they promised to bring with them.
Here are the five stages of loss and grief we face with the closing of our sweet summertime freedom:
1. Denial: We will not put off our sorrows until Sunday night, we will put them off until we are ready to face them Monday morning, or whenever classes start. Books, early homework assignments and even checking Webcourses to see that we are officially enrolled in our classes can hold off until we are ready to deal with the pressures of school again during days we should be tanning out at the beach.
2. Anger: Constantly asking ourselves, "Why?" Why did we sign up for classes over summer when we could be traveling the world or taking advantage of the warm weather in every way possible? Why are we sitting in this cold library studying when we should be studying how to get the perfect tan? Why are we expected to complete 120 credit hours in four short years when really, that's not exactly achievable? Just... Why?
3. Bargaining: If only … If only we had gotten that internship abroad … If only I had chosen some easy online classes to complete for summer … If only I had chosen a simpler major to make life a little easier.
4. Depression: Dismiss this feeling, because summer classes are going to happen, and they will happen to everyone during their college career at some point. Gather your friends for one last night of freedom and lack of knowledge about how hard the tests will be or how long it will take you to do the homework assignments, and enjoy your night.
5. Acceptance: Whether you like it or not, you know you're doing the right thing by taking them. You are getting ahead in your college career and your life, and let's be honest, who doesn't start to feel like they're wasting their time after three months of just partying and going to the beach every day? It may be hard to adjust at first, because we did work hard on our finals, and it'd be nice to enjoy some more time off, but it's not like we haven't learned yet how to effectively pass a class while having a life. All in all, we got this.
