Quick! How do I Recover from Finals?

A small disclaimer: I am a freshman who is pulling this completely out of her imagination and high school experience. We are in this together! Think of this article as more of an exploration of options. 

So, finals have ended by now, and you are left with way too much free time. What do you do with it? My suggestion in total is EVERYTHING, but that is probably too overwhelming and vague, so let’s break the possibilities down into categories: 

The Digital World

There are so many things online to watch, read, and listen to that nobody can fault you for transporting yourself into the magical worlds they create. Personally, I am really into web novels, gameplay/indie story-based games, YouTube analyses, physical books, Kpop, music in general, and much more I cannot think of right now. I think digital entertainment has grown so incredibly and creatively that everyone can enjoy new forms of it consistently and find new ones if they just take a proper look. If you want to be mindblown with people’s artistic and creative abilities all the time, go online.

Strengthened Friendships

During the semester, your social battery probably gets rung dry before it even has a chance. Lecture after lecture, exam after exam, paper after paper, all you want to do once class ends is pack up and head straight home. Thus, very little time is left for friendships. Now is the time to change this. Text your friends and arrange a meetup. Go somewhere interesting, do something fun. You might find a certain friendship deepening unexpectedly as well- the best result!

Austin Adventures

Of course, don’t forget to explore your city! Perhaps you’ve lived there your whole life, or you only came recently for university; either way, I guarantee there is still much for you to explore as a college student. I would recommend dressing up and going somewhere a bit fancy with your friends. A weekend not too long ago, I dressed up and went to a nice downtown restaurant with a decent view with my roommates and had a blast. I thoroughly enjoyed being with them, the delicious food, the night drive, and the pictures afterward. This outing didn’t happen because it was somewhere we had been to before and revisited for a special celebration – it happened because we were bored and picked a restaurant we had only heard of once to cure this boredom, and I didn’t regret it at all. Of course, these city adventures are not about being fancy; they are about being spontaneous, curious, and making a good time out of any location. 

Exercising Motion

No matter how tempting it is, we can not sit on our behinds during most of our precious free time. Think about what you would have done in the past with this free time if group projects had not killed you! Of course, rest when you need to, but fulfillment comes from being enjoyably active and not lazy. If nothing else, take a relaxing morning walk! Nothing strenuous, just feel-good productive.

University is exhausting, let’s face it, and we all deserve to milk our breaks for all they are worth. Make the most of them then! Go out, do everything you were not able to before and won’t be able to once school starts again, update acquaintances to good friends, be refreshingly active, just do whatever makes you feel good. At the end of the day, there is no wrong answer to replenishing your energy as long as you enjoy each day. 

• #break
• #fun
• college
• entertainment
• recover