This is a stressful time of the school year. With only a few weeks left in the semester, classes are ramping up, group project deadlines are looming, and finals are getting closer by the day. It can be easy to panic. Thanksgiving break is a quick breath of relief before it’s crunch time. That being said, make sure you actually take a break during break!
If you’re like me and try to avoid doing any schoolwork during break, that’s great. I always try to get everything done early before I head home so that I can truly relax. While this is a great idea, it can be difficult to execute. We have a full week off, that’s plenty of time to do all of your work that’s due the day we get back, right? Wrong. Most of the time students tend to procrastinate, yep it’s a bad habit most of us have. Once we get on break, we are so happy to finally relax that it’s easy to completely forget about school all together. This is great, until it’s Sunday night and you’re trying to do an essay, take home exam, and start a group project all due the next day.
Ok, so what’s the solution? Do your best to complete as much as you can before break, that way you can relax on break and avoid the Sunday Scaries. If you try to do all your work over break, you’ll just end up burnt out, defeating the purpose of break. The last 2 weeks of classes and finals week is arguably the hardest part of the semester, you need your best self to finish strong. Use your break to refresh your mind and relax. If you’re really worried, try looking over notes 20-40 minutes per day. That will keep the information fresh in your mind without taking up your whole break.
Another great thing to do over break instead of schoolwork is to learn. Wait, what? I just said to take a break but also learn. Do some fun learning (yes, this is a real thing), here are some examples:
- Read that book that you don’t have time for at school.
- Read some of the books we suggest on our virtual book displays.
- Find something that interests you and learn more about it.
- Take a look at some personal finance articles (I know not as fun, but very useful).
- Find a blog or a podcast that you’re interested in.
- Some of my favorites are So Money,Criminal, and Optimal Living Daily
We don’t have time for this extra learning at school, so take advantage of your free time during breaks to learn different things! Self-education is very rewarding.
Overall, you deserve a break from school (no matter how much your professors’ deadlines disagree). Try to get ahead while you’re still at Penn State and use break to relax at home. You’ll need to refresh for the end of the semester. And don’t forget to do some fun learning like checking out everything The Informed Consumer Series has to offer!
© Image