Posts Tagged ‘Summer Break’

So…How’s Your Summer Going?

Tuesday, June 11th, 2013

Are you accomplishing everything you had planned for this summer? Are you exercising regularly? Learning a programming language? Publishing regular blog posts (*cough*)? Summer’s definitely the time to get things done…

Wrong! Ha! Very funny. Wonderful joke. If anything, summer’s a 3-month justification that, unless you’re an exceptionally motivated individual (or on some sort of energy enhancing drug), you’d default to a lazy state of mind at any possible chance.  Despite what hardware store commercials tell us, summer ends up being a time of less saving and less doing.

Many students at the University are actually doing exciting and meaningful things over break. Internships. Study abroad. Volunteering. I applaud them for accomplishing stuff. They’ve made the effort to continue their exploration of the world into the warm summer days. Me? Well…actually…that’s a really funny story…

OK, so I am working at a summer internship, but the only reason I’m succeeding at it is because it’s structured. I have rules. Someone tells me what to do. It’s the lack of these regulations that makes accomplishing anything else during the summer an elusive goal for anyone who’s fortunate enough to get a break (i.e. students). What I have done has been to collect a list of things I wish I had accomplished by now.

  • Learn a programming language (there’s a couple of quarter-read books on my shelf).
  • Read more in general (I don’t read enough anyway, so summer should be a good excuse to start, right?).
  • Learn an instrument (Luckily, to date, I’ve only pointlessly purchased a guitar).
  • Write a book (To be fair, it is a lofty goal. Writing something couldn’t hurt though…).

There’s probably some deep psychological reason why I fail to accomplish things I plan to do over break. Maybe I’m actually burnt out after the school year (ha). Perhaps my brain has been wired to avoid creation and only consume products thanks to commercials (that must be it…).

I have bothered to worry about it though. That is something.