If someone were to ask me to describe spring break in one word, I would use the word necessary. I think a lot of students would agree with that too. By this point in the semester, what I usually refer to as the unofficial mid-semester point, many professors have been teaching at 100 mph for weeks. This is all well and good, except by spring break my gas tank is running merely on fumes.
Spring break to me is a needed rest, a chance to refill my tank. But I’ve learned that by now even refilling my gas tank can be a struggle, leading me to return after break with even less fuel than when I started. Furthermore, by having a week off around the time when the weather starts to change I start to completely lose my drive.
There has to be a middle ground for spring break. There has to be a way to refuel while taking some much-needed time off while also not completely abandoning the rest of the semester.
The best way I’ve learned to stay focused but still resting up is by continuing to study and to work on projects and other assignments a little bit each day over break. Let’s be honest, at least one of your professors either A). still saw break as an active learning week by assigning you homework and chapters to read with some type of test when you come back, or B). saw spring break as a week to assign even more homework. Regardless, it’s inevitable that there’s still work to be done.
Who wants to spend the day before classes resume doing all that home and potentially stressing you out all over again? All that does is immediately take away all of the relaxing you did over break and put you right back into that stressful mindset.
To avoid that, take two hours a day to just work on something school related. Two hours of work I promise won’t kill you. Do more if you feel advantageous, but don’t force yourself to if you really don’t want to.
The most important thing, like I said earlier, is to find that middle ground between relaxing and enjoying break, but also not losing focus entirely. Freshman year, I over-focused during spring break. Sophomore year, I under-focused. Junior and now senior year, I found that happy medium of working a few hours a day to stay on top of things or even get a little ahead. I’ve found this method the help keep me focused the rest of the semester, or at least until Easter break.