Summer isn’t just fun and sun, y’all. Here are the seven mental stages you go through during summer vacation.
Disbelief: You probably experienced this stage during the last 10-ish minutes of your last final: this is it, in a few short minutes (plus hours/days to actually pack, get home, etc.) your summer vacation will start. If it’s your first year, it can be even harder to believe; you’ve finished another year of college, presumably with minimal damage.
Denial: Deep down, you know you probably won’t be productive this summer. Still, you’ll make plans to be. In those first few weeks, you’ll create big plans: get super fit, start a blog, or teach yourself a useful skill, like Spanish or how to play the ukulele. Unless you’re a superhuman with an enviable will, you probably will not do these things. That initial first week you give yourself to just rest will merge with the next, and before you know it, it’s the Fourth of July, and you've accomplished nothing.
Bargaining: While it’s probably not practical to try to hang out with all your friends who are scattered across the Continental U.S. and beyond, you’ll try to make plans to hang out with the “close” (four+ hours away) ones. Luckily for you, of all your grand plans for the summer, this is probably the most likely to happen. Sure, you’ll have to work around family vacations, job schedules, and possibly weather forecasts, but it’ll be worth the hassle to see one of your best friends.
Guilt: If you’re like me, your summer has just been a series of binging: TV, movies, books, whatever. Even if you have a job, you might feel guilty about not doing more. Why don’t you have an internship? Or summer research? Why am I wasting away my potential slumped in front of my computer watching “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” again?
Anger: As you run out of things to do, you might start spending more time on Facebook: for your own sake, don’t. You can only see so many pictures of your classmates traveling abroad, teaching English, working in New York, or touring Europe before you’re consumed with a jealous rage.
Depression: As the days get hotter, you’ll probably get more lethargic. Why do anything when sleep is an option? An alternative is that you’ll start getting antsy because you’re so desperate for stimulation to keep yourself busy. While doing nothing has been fun, you’re eager to get back to school. If you had a really intense internship, the opposite might be true, and you’re looking forward to a more laid back schedule. You just know you can’t keep doing what you’re doing.
Hope: August is drawing to a close. Despite the fact that your sheets are still drenched in sweat from the heat, summer is almost ever. Your parents start hassling you about starting to pack and checking out your booklists for your classes. You call your roommate to plan out your room. You’ve made it, and it’s almost time to go back to your new home.
