Written by Mary Todd Christian and Maci Sepp. Media by Jack Dawdy.
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It’s that time in the semester when you’re just hoping for a break in your busy schedule. Thankfully, the long awaited Spring Break comes in just the knick of time to whisk you away from the pressure and stress of school. But the week goes by quickly, and you soon find yourself packing to go back to school. You feel as if you didn’t get a break at all. In fact, you didn’t even enjoy your time away. By the end, you decide that Spring Break just plain sucks. Here are some reasons why.
Planning Too Many Activities
I think one of the mistakes many of us make is over scheduling activities while we are on Spring Break. For myself, I feel obligated to catch up with high school friends, go to specific places, and basically plan out my week to the tee. While I may cover a lot of ground in socializing, I don’t actually take the time to rest and reflect on my semester.
Not Enough Activity
The opposite of planning too much activity is not enough. For those who are used to a busy schedule, it’s even more difficult to transition from high activity to next to none. The lack of responsibility can be overwhelming. Whenever this happens, I usually resort to eating junk food and binge-watching Netflix as life slowly passes me by. I find myself sinking into loneliness… and half gallons of ice cream.
Homework
Taking a break means “a momentary halt in an activity.” This means not doing anything for a period of time. However, most students usually are saddled with the arguably unfair expectation of homework over their spring break. This puts a damper on the supposed break and results in extra stress upon returning to school. Just because it’s called homework doesn’t mean it should be assigned when you actually get to go home.
The Break is Never Long Enough
It seems like when I finally get the time to decompress and put my feet up, it’s time to pack up my things and head back to campus. I usually try to frontload my break with doctor appointments and errands so that I have time in between to simply relax and reflect, but that’s never exactly how my break pans out. There seems to always be more than I expect, or I take longer to complete certain tasks than I originally hoped. As much as I love coming back to school, seeing friends, and getting back in the swing of things, constantly being on the move can be extremely draining.
So basically, spring break really sucks. By now you may be thinking, “how could it possibly get any worse?” Well, it can’t. Lucky for us, this means that it can only get better. If I’ve learned anything in college, it’s that while school comes first, fun is at the very least a close second. Maybe your spring break isn’t the most enjoyable time of the year, but no one is stopping you from taking a weekend off to be with family or spending a night in the city with close friends. Even spending an afternoon alone on Scott Field with a good book has its virtues. Learning to just say no and set aside homework and responsibilities is something we should be taking advantage of while we still have the chance. Being a student can feel like a job, but you should love it. And as many wise folks have told me, if you love what you do, then you never have to work a day in your life.
