Repeat after me: "This summer, I will accomplish everything I didn't find the time for during the academic year: improve my sleep schedule, work out regularly, get on top of my reading list and find a part-time job. I will start the new term re-energized and motivated."
Haha, did you buy into this? Does anyone ever stay faithful to their summer resolutions?
Although we vow to get on top of our bucket list over break, our motivation levels sink rapidly, and even the best of us give in to laziness.
The calendar ceases existing during this three-month-long study break. Our days resemble each other: we get out of bed around noon, binge-watch Netflix, keep up to date with the latest YouTube drama and celebrity Instagram updates. After all, our brain needs some rest after nine months of hard work.
But before we embark on that new TV show, let's look further into our right to summer laziness. In truth, assessment papers and final examinations haven't crushed us to the point of requiring an extensive recovery. A full night's sleep and a couple of do-nothing days would suffice to bring us back to life.
Summer is the season we have all been waiting for. Why don't we take the most out of it once our energy is replenished? - That's because we get tired of the freedom it grants us, not knowing what use to put it to. Summer break has hardly begun when the hope that it will pass by quickly crosses our mind. So, for many of us, it is also the season of mosquitos, sweat pimples, and broken expectations.
Perhaps, academic work used to be what gave our life meaning over the course of the year. So, as soon as deadlines and obligations were taken away from us, we got restless. A friend of mine who is currently staying in New York for an internship once sent me a picture from our university library, saying: "I didn't know where else to go." He had some time to kill, he added, which sums up the issue of those bored over break. Instead of taking advantage of the time on our hands, we are killing it.
The world keeps spinning, yet we act as if we weren't taking a break from studies but life altogether.
Summer is the season that makes us feel worthless: our freedom bears no fruit and hence it brings us no satisfaction. We would like to be more productive, but the most we seem to be capable of is to complain about our unproductivity. Finding motivation without deadlines is always harder.
Quite paradoxically, long-term idleness neither restores our energy nor does it reawaken our passion for work. Instead, those who haven't accomplished much over summer start the new year of college with the feeling of regret.
To take ourselves in both hands and leave the sofa would be more rewarding. Are you with me?
