Spring Fever- the feeling of excitement at the beginning of spring. Symptoms include restlessness, eagerness, loss of ability to focus, slightly sunburnt skin, lack of interest in assignments, and an increasing desire to be anywhere outside. Affects most, but mostly college students. For some college students, Spring Fever can be almost as bad as the flu or mono. While it isn’t a real illness, just as many classes are skipped and just as much motivation has called in sick in order to try and cure the inevitable case of Spring Fever that everyone gets to some degree.
To be able to combat spring fever, we have some work to do, and even though you may not want it to be doable or think that it can’t be done, it can! Even though your mind is probably already on vacation, keep in mind that we’re in the home stretch.
Go back to why you started. Every task that we take on is started with a clear motive, whether it is for a person, for a future goal, or for yourself. As time goes on and work piles up and the daunting daily routine cycles through again, our initial motive gets lost and after many Spring Fevers, we stray so far away it might be hard to look back and see the reason clearly. With the initial “why” being lost, the small actions taken to fulfil the why can get lost too. When this happens, you might not be able to remember the last time you were happy or on track and your vivid picture of where you wanted to be has slowly turned to black and white. Don’t let yourself lose your color, it’s very pretty and I like it alot, and I bet that other people around you do too. Go back to sit in prayer for a moment to get back to clarity through your vivid colorful vision of life to be able to revisit your “why” to ensure you’re on track and achieving your goal.
Accept that things will be hard in life. By this point in our lives, we have all been through enough to know that there will always be an obstacle in our way, but there will also always be a solution to overcoming it. Once you can accept that, just as you’ve done in the past, you will get past the hurdle and things will start to look up and become better for you. What you put into the world is what you will receive in return. If you talk poorly about yourself and doubt yourself, you will never be able to achieve anything worth it on your own. If you feel like you’re stuck swimming circles, breathe and take a second to relax so that you can get it together.
People who are persistent are people who win, so be persistent. Being persistent will give you results that will be worth the work. If you have ever done something rewarding for yourself, you know the gratifying feeling that you feel from reaching that goal. For some reason it feels differently than the feeling you get when something is done for you, so use this as your leverage to keep pushing and don’t give up until you finish and get that feeling every time. Sometimes simply being able to make a list and check off the boxes that you’ve completed that day is the perfect place to start!
No matter how lost you get in your work, please don’t lose yourself or your sense of wonder. Now, I am aware that sometimes I may be happier than others and my bubbly personality can be daunting to people and can come off as frustrating, but it’s not always real happiness. Coming off happy makes me feel better and gives me more motivation to complete the tasks that I want to finish so I can feel like I have lived a meaningful day. Recently, I have encountered three people who have had an impact on the way that I see life. One was a woman who was a survivor of the Boston Marathon bombing and lost both of her legs, the other was a girl who must have been saved by a guardian angel and survived a terrible car crash, and the third was a friend who miraculously beat an almost always terminal cancer diagnosis. While each story was different, they all had one thing in common, they all turned their negative experiences into lessons, they always kept going, and they changed their perspective on life to a happier, more gratifying one. From them I gained the ability to keep moving forward with a happy, optimistic, and determined mind because if I can do this I will always move ahead.
Be proud of who you are, how far you have come, and what you have accomplished! Progress is progress, no matter how small and steps are steps forward no matter how long it takes to take them! But with that being said, there truly is no better time than the present to go. Whatever task Spring Fever is hindering on, you are so close to accomplishing it, keep going! For college students, especially seniors, the semester is almost over and in three weeks you’ll be able to look back at a task that is completed forever, so you may as well complete it well. Maximize your opportunity, because you never know when it could be taken away from you, so get busy living a happy and meaningful day! Keep going and make your day count.