Tight schedules, exams, projects, and lab work is over. Summer is around the corner. Finding a perfect balance between learning and getting work experience while enjoying your downtime and letting go of stress from the academic year will bring positive energy in your life and advance your career.
Here are some suggestions:
1- Have lots of fun. Relax, eat and watch movies, play video games and sleep. Congratulations!! You just completed spring semester. You have been studying for the last ten months. It will take you a few days to get into holiday mode. So just eat, sleep and repeat.
2- Ride a bike or increase stamina by signing up for a marathon. Have a goal based on physical activity that keeps you out in the sunshine. If one of your friends can join in, it will be even better. Fit together.
3- Summer job: part-time or full-time, get some experience – never hurts your savings and resume.
4- Learn a new hobby or read a book. It could be anything from crochet to learning a software. Read anything you enjoy. Go to a concert, theater or museum – learn about history.
5- Want to be creative: try photography class or take an art class or be a creative writer. Your hidden talents will be shining.
6- Give back to your community: communities are not given; they are built. Why not do your part?
7- Make a spontaneous trip and go to an unknown place. Buy a bus ticket and travel – backpacking, anyone?
8- Do challenge yourself. What are you afraid of: skydiving, scuba diving or bungee jumping?
9- Learn to cook or take a baking class: a skill your friends and family will appreciate in long run.
10- Why not get a funky haircut this summer, clean up your e-life or organize your closet and laptop.
11- Create a backup of your personal contacts and pictures.
12- Tutor neighbour kids: an interesting way to learn patience and earn some extra bucks
13- Start a blog, website or an Instagram page.
14- Make a budget: learn to stay within your budget and start saving money for a trip or an electronic gadget.
15- Bucket list, you got one?
It is okay to be a couch potato for a few days, but there is a lot more to holidays than this. Make the best out of it. Create memories and enjoy the sunny season.
Amna Khaliq is a Business Management Instructor at Northern Lights College. The views expressed are her own. She believes that kindness, smiles, love, and yawning is contagious. In her spare time, she likes traveling, cooking, reading and working out.
