It’s that time of year again where the weather is perpetually whacky, but hints at signs of summer. As all returning college students know, the second part of spring semester is the time to buckle down and finish strong. However, it’s also the time when we feel like slacking the most. The best way to begin focusing on school subjects again is by removing the unnecessary and often distracting clutter in your life at this point of the year. Here are five aspects of your life that you can clean this spring that’ll prepare you for the remainder of the semester.
Your Place
An obvious choice, the best place to start cleaning is the place you live. There are most likely miscellaneous stains that have accumulated since fall but haven’t been touched since everyone returned from Winter Break. To rid yourself of all items that no longer belong, you should light a candle, pull out the Clorox spray and vacuum and rid your space of all messes that chose to persist while your attention has been centered on work and sleep.
Your Papers
If you’re like me, you hoard all schoolwork you’ve ever completed. Personally, I have multiple boxes full of work that has existed since kindergarten. While there are some items that you may want to keep, a good strategy to prevent your study area from becoming a Lost and Found bin of memories is to recycle papers and materials that are no longer applicable to your current studies. By tossing unneeded school materials, you will create more desk space for your current work and other items you may need to store.
Your Drama
Now that you’ve had some time away from your friends and roommates over Spring Break, it’s time to put all the quarrels and frustrations in the past. Starting the second half of the semester off on the right foot will aid in keeping your mind off of conflict and instead on the tests, readings and projects that are due within the next couple of weeks. Besides, the confrontation would’ve been absolved anyways, therefore a simple solution would be to solve whatever issues you have before it becomes a mind consuming problem.
Your Schedule
The wonderful thing about Spring Break is it affords you time to gain perspective on how your year has been going and what activities and clubs in your life are worth the commitment and time, and which are not. While there are some aspects of your schedule you have to stick through—your classes especially—other activities that may have been affecting your schoolwork or overall health should be removed from your schedule. Although it may seem that you have to keep yourself busy every second of each day, allotting some time for yourself during the week is actually more beneficial to you and may keep you sane.
Your Mind
The most important aspect of spring cleaning is ending up with a mind clear of all doubts and anxieties as you head into what may feel like a battlefield for the final month of school. The midterms you worried about have already been taken and the strangers who you were taking classes with are slowly becoming acquaintances. Despite the fear you may feel with impending major due dates, it’s important to relax your mind enough that past issues and concerns no longer impede your work or your mental health.
Above all, cleaning these aspects of your life will clear the Spring Break fog away, extinguishing any future excuses as a result of a mess and creating a definitive starting point for the end of the year. While the mess itself may seem overwhelming, more so than the rest of the school year, it’s imperative to remember anything can be cleaned and everyone can start the second half of their semester refreshed and ready to go.