With the end of Spring Break comes the final stretch of the semester, when the sole motivator is the thought of a free three months being only a few weeks away. However, despite this heaven being so close, the weeks preceding seem to lag on for longer than usual, making productivity difficult. Here are the stages of that post Spring Break feeling, with the high and low stages after that sweet, sweet break.
1. The realization of isolation
Even though Spring Break is only a week, that length of time away from school and all your school friends can feel like a month. Whether you spent your break holed up in your room watching Netflix or relaxing at the beach, mustering the effort to thrust yourself back into your highly populated school can take some serious effort.
2. A newfound feeling of surprising energy
After a week of (hopefully) no schoolwork, you feel refreshed and renewed—you had a whole week of not needing to stay up late finishing projects!
3. The immediate crash before you can do anything productive
However this energy can immedeitly falter when you realize you had about five extraneous assignments the week you’re back and the only thing you did for them over the break was open a Word Document for them.
4. The complete mind fart as you attempt and fail to do anything
Then comes the time when you sit down and attempt to grind through your assignments the sunday night before school starts back up; however, your mind has been on low power mode for so long that it seems impossible to actually be productive,
5. The gradual acceptance of responsibility, but with difficulty
Slowly but surely you can build up your productivity by knocking out small tasks one by one from your large list. However, it isn’t easy, as your dwindling time threatens you with ultimate failure.
6. The golden period of immense productivity (that hopefully continues)
But once you hit your true stride and begin to see how much work you’re getting done, you feel on top of the world! Finally you are steam-rolling through all that you need to do, and the finish line feels so close.
7. The procrastiantion that ensues right before you actually complete your list
As you approach the end of your studying and realize how far you’ve come, rather than finishing your work at a normal time and going to bed, procrastinating sounds like a much better idea! Whether you take a nice long bubble bath or start binge watching some Netflix show, rewarding yourself for almost finishing your list is the final priority.
Maybe one day we won’t leave all our work until the final few hours the night before.