By Horacio Sierra, Ph.D.
After a few days of waking up without having to attend classes, many students find that their free time during winter break throws them for a loop. You can make the most of your winter break by using the time to decompress, reflect and prepare. Whether your winter break lasts two weeks or a month, you can take advantage of the time to focus on your physical and mental health by reconnecting with family and friends, preparing for the spring semester or
rediscovering hobbies and passions you let fall by the wayside under the pressures of college life. Unlike spring break, which typically lasts just one week before you head right back to classes, winter break offers a substantial amount of time for you to inject a new perspective or shot of energy into your life. Read on to learn how.
12 Things To Do Over Winter Break To Stay Productive
Read
As a college student, you might consider yourself an intellectually curious person. Whether you loved reading Japanese manga, fantasy novels or National Geographic magazines in your youth, classes and homework may have since dimmed your love for reading. Winter break is the perfect time to re-immerse yourself in the literary world and learn more about your favorite topics.
So take a peaceful walk to your local bookstore to buy a new book, or curl up with a childhood classic at home. Not sure where to start? Check out our list of recommended books for college students.
Travel
Despite the colder weather, winter travel offers its share of benefits since many destinations are less crowded than during the high season. Whether alone or with family, take a short trip to a favorite vacation spot like a seaside boardwalk or a state park. You could also take a weeklong trip with friends to a place you’ve always wanted to visit.
Sleep
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 60% of college students have poor-quality sleep and do not get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Winter break not only gives you time to make up for missed sleep but also provides a chance to improve your sleep hygiene.
Creating good daily sleep habits can benefit you for the rest of your college career. Why not start now?
Relax
Stop.
Stop scrolling, stop overextending yourself and stop beating yourself up over missed goals or disappointing grades from your fall semester. Colleges understand that students are stressed and often offer various forms of support through counseling services and wellness centers. Follow the experts’ advice to harness the powers of mindfulness, cut back on social media and get regular exercise.
Winter break is the perfect chance for your body to recharge and your mind to unwind.
Reflect
The fall semester is over, but that doesn’t mean you’ve stopped learning from it. Reflect on your successes and failures from the fall semester so you can be a more effective student during the spring.
Were morning classes not conducive to learning? Ensure you enroll in later class times during the spring semester. Did your major classes bore you to tears? Take this opportunity to reconsider your current career path and whether it’ll make you happy.
Research Summer Internship Opportunities
Internships make your résumé stand out when it’s time to hit the job market. They also help you determine whether you’ll actually like working in the field you’re studying. Because summer internships can be competitive, you should start researching them months in advance. Winter break is the perfect time to get your internship application materials ready well before deadline.
Revamp Your Résumé
You’re in college. Your high school activities should no longer be on your résumé. Revamp your résumé so it highlights your college activities and courses instead.
Updating your résumé after each semester helps keep it fresh and comprehensive. Contact your college’s career resource center to ask the experts how you can improve your résumé, and use your downtime over winter break to implement their recommendations.
Set Goals for the Spring Semester
Use the wintertime lull in your schedule to set goals for the spring semester. For example, if you want to eventually graduate cum laude and need to boost your spring semester GPA to do so, consider how you can make time to study for that one tough class or save the money to pay for a tutor.
Spend Time With Family and Friends
If being in college after 13 years of K-12 teaches you anything, it’s that time passes quickly. The nights you go out dancing with your friends and the afternoons you spend visiting your grandparents are among the memories you’ll cherish when you reflect on your college years. After all, there is no winter break in the professional world, so take this precious time to surround yourself with the people you love.
Find or Rediscover a Hobby
Have you always wanted to make a pizza from scratch, or finally take up your tío on his offer to teach you salsa dancing? Winter break is the perfect time to knead that dough and learn those steps. Stimulating hobbies can help you form new connections with family and friends and improve your mental health.
Volunteer or Work
Whether you’re volunteering to contribute to your hometown community or working part time to replenish your bank account, doing some work over winter break can be a great investment of time and energy.
Take a Class
Sure, taking a class over winter break sort of negates the “break” part. But if you need to make up credits or want to take an extra class so you can graduate early, winter break gives you time to focus on just one or two classes instead of five or six.
Winter break could be the perfect time to finally pass that math class you failed sophomore year or take that Italian elective you’ve always been interested in.
The post What Are The Most Productive Things To Do Over Winter Break In College? appeared first on Forbes.
