You’re sitting there on the beach, getting that long awaited tan you were looking forward to. A drink in hand, and a beautiful crystal clear ocean lays right in front of you. You truly are in paradise. You think to yourself how much you never want this to end. Wait, what’s that? That just happens to be your alarm going off telling you that it’s time to get your things packed and head on home. Home? What is home? As your plane lands, you suddenly step right back into reality, filled with stress and those tests and papers you completely forgot about. You instantly acquire the most hideous smile, and your tan has turned to a light or rather dark shade of gray. You have returned back to reality and stepped out of your perfect fantasy world. You are now experiencing Post Spring Break Depression. Where the friends you met over break and the memories you created seem to not have ever really happened and the sun, sand, and partying have completely gone away.
While you keep pinching yourself hoping that this depression is all a dream, it is unfortunately true reality. You cannot snap your fingers or click your heels three times and end up back in the hot sun. You must deal with the pain and sadness and get your life back on track. While the favorable approach would be to lock yourself in your room and eat loads of sweets to gain back all the weight you lost for spring break, the practical approach is to cope with the loss of beach and get back to your normal daily routine. Here are a few ways that can help you deal with your depression:
1) Unless you are a senior (sorry guys), you can remind yourself that this will happen again. Although you might not get to go to paradise for your spring break ever again, you will get another full week where you get to relax and catch up on all the sleep you lost, or if you’re lucky, travel the world and lie on a beach all day. Either way, you will have that chance to unwind and settle down.
2) As you are sitting there crying about all the wonderful and hot people you met on spring break, remind yourself that they too have to leave at some point and make their own way back to reality. It is not just you and your friends that have to dreadfully leave the most gorgeous and fun place ever, everyone does. Well, unless you live in said vacation spot.
3) Although some of us may have our campus settled in the snow, eventually you have one thing you get to look forward to…summer is right around the corner! Spring break happens at a time when the weather will hopefully start to get warmer, and you may not have too many exams left. With that being said, you are in the home stretch when it comes to school being over and the warm bikini weather helping you get your gorgeous tan back. So keep your hopes up!
4) If you met some great people on your spring break, another way to deal with the depression of reality is to keep in touch with them. If they are from a different country, there is always Facebook Messaging or the “What’s App” App that you can buy from the app store for $0.99. It’s a good way to keep your friendships going and to have connections with other people from around the world in case you ever happen to travel to a different location throughout your life journey.
5) Since you were away in a different location, when you get back try and take some time to visit a new area where you live. You just spent a week exploring and knowing nothing about the place you were in so why not continue that adventurous aspect of your life? Although you may not be doing it in the hot sun on a beach, you may, in fact, find new areas around town or new restaurants that you never knew existed.
6) To aid in getting your motivation back, persistently get in the routine of going to every class every day. Although this sounds extremely difficult to do, it will help you get back into your daily routines. It will eventually aid in motivating you to get back to the gym and continue your New Year’s resolutions, which will then lead you to eat healthier and will contribute to an all around better YOU!
So instead of sulking about your past times in paradise, get off your butt and get that motivation back. Ace those tests you forgot about, and turn those papers in on time. You don’t want Post Spring Break Depression to leave you permanently depressed and failing all of your classes. Just remember, you are not alone. Many people go through this as well, and eventually everyone can, and will, get over it.
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http://theblacksheeponline.com/article/getting-over-post-spring-break-depression