Ready, Break! Setting Goals, Taking Names: What To Do Over Winter Break

When it comes to reaching your goals, there’s no time like the (time after you open a) present.

Perhaps when you hear “winter break” you think “super-cycle of suburban awful.” You imagine four weeks of hanging around the diner and spending so much time with your family you want to get put up for adoption. Or maybe you’re a city native, and despite being from one of the most exclamation-pointed places on the planet — New York! L.A.! — you too are bored during this December to January stretch. Your favorite streets are flooded with tourists who wear fanny packs and make peace signs in all their pictures. Sure, Christmas is great and all (Chanukah, as per usual, was during finals), but winter break drags beyond Christmas into the depths of January. January. There is only one kind of January that doesn’t suck, and she’s in reruns.

Good grief! I wish I had something to do this winter break besides mope over the Little Red Haired Girl.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! Look, if nothing makes you happier than collapsing on your couch on December 26th and staying there until the first day of spring semester, by all means pursue that happiness like Jefferson always dreamed you would. However, if the prospect of staring at this while gorging on leftover latkes and Christmas cookies for twenty-eight days straight makes a tiny part of you die inside, you’ll need to focus all that pent-up energy on something other than your remote control.

You have four weeks. You can’t do everything, but you can still do something. You don’t need goals like “defeat Al Qaeda by college graduation” because the President already has that on his to do list. You can have other, slightly smaller ambitions. Here are a few terrorism-free ideas to get you started:

Jay-Z says: change clothes and go.

Come Out of the Closet

Unless your wardrobe opens up into Narnia (unlikely), you probably don’t have enough space for all your clothes. ‘Tis the season to get rid of everything that seemed oh-so-cool in high school, like your Abercrombie t-shirts with lame sexual jokes — “come get lei’d in sunny Hawaii!” — and send the stash to charity. Get in touch with the community service hub on your campus if you need help finding out where and how to deliver your donation. When donating to a national charity, make sure you’re following these guidelines. And if you’ve got something especially lovely, like that prom dress you’ll never wear again, find a Donate My Dress chapter near you. You’re simultaneously performing some stellar service and creating space for new sartorial acquisitions. Everybody wins!

Don’t make your resume pink or you will have to dress like this.

Audition for The Real World

Everyone knows that the best thing to be is an undergrad; the work-to-play ratio is heavy on the beer and light on the books. Yet someday, sooner than you’d like, you will leave your collegiate bubble and enter a phase of young adulthood known as “real life.” There is no avoiding this transition, save for being that sad alum who hangs around the local bar hitting on freshmen. There is a way to make it less painful: be prepared. Update your résumé and do recon on summer internships. If you’re feeling particularly ambitious, you can even draft a cover letter. Need help making your CV as attractive as you are? We’ve got tips for résumés and our friends/heroes over at Ed2010 have excellent cover letter advice. The Ed2010 rules are geared towards the magazine industry-bound, but there’s plenty in there that applies no matter what job you want.

“It sure would be easier to type if this computer wasn’t from 1987.”

Honest to Blog?

It’s easy to hate blogs. They tend to be an outlet for some of humanity’s more annoying sectors (artsy narcissists, gossip whores, compulsive over-sharers) to spout the inner workings of their uninteresting minds. Rise above the badness and put out something creative. Get inspired by the man who pulled a genius and captured the obvious and another guy who stretched ridiculousness to the point of hilarity. Try using Blogspot or WordPress, the platform of Stuff White People Like.

“Admit it, Jen. You’ve missed wearing your flair.”

(Don’t) Go For Broke

Yes, working on vacation sounds oxymoronic. You still fondly remember the day you turned in your embarrassing uniform, the final bring! of the cash register as you finished that last shift at H&M, the slam of the door behind you on that whiny toddler who colored all over your arms with magic marker. Even though unemployment is hot right now, having spending money is even hotter. Pick up a few shifts at your old after-school job and spread the word that you’re around to baby-sit over break. You can take advantage of the employee discount or, if you take the babysitting route, get paid in cash for playing Candyland, eating childhood snacks your mom won’t buy you anymore (like these!) and watching TV at someone else’s house.