Summer is a nice time—to escape from reality, to escape from school pressure, to escape from that academically pretentious facetiousness that veils the intrinsic SchadenFreudian competition.
After my school semester concluded, my summer immediately started as my brother came home from college, right after the last day of school. We traveled; we went to a wedding; we climbed mountains. I’ve come to a realization of inner enlightenment for all my emotional facets that revealed a state of peace and contentment through my summer adventures and experiences.
I love to travel—mostly during summer when I have time. Last July, I spent three weeks traveling on my own: I went to Florida for a cruise with a friend from Indonesia, followed by soccer camps in California and New York. This year, my family took a trip to Acadia National Park campgrounds for a week. Shortly after, I went on a cruise to Saint John’s, Canada, for a week with the same friend. The town was quite honestly pathetic, but the cruise was quite honestly awesome. In the most recent weeks, I’ve been traveling around visiting colleges.
But, this summer was different. I’ve rekindled a hidden identity, finally finding my interests and desires, escaping from an academic environment like Great Neck to actually count my blessings. After the pressure of school and academics subsided, I actually started to feel more human, more like myself instead of a pretentious academic facade that veiled my emotional insecurities.
Besides traveling, it’s also important to find a consistent summer rhythm, a daily routine that combines what you enjoy doing most with productivity. My routine: I wake up, go to work, go play soccer at night, sleep. Something so simple has induced an unparalleled feeling of productivity with emotional satisfaction because these are activities that I love to do, things
that impel me to wake up every day and repeat for a whole summer. Although I’ve been busy, my stress levels are infinitesimal. It’s imperative to find something you love to do.
These are the latent emotions that were manifested this summer, which contributes to my “summer is a nice time” sentiment. This is the only time during the year in which students escape their academic burdens to fully enjoy their endeavors and anticipated desires. The impending pressure of college looms closely for many students, but it can’t hurt to take a mental break periodically to rekindle a cherished emotion or longed desire. Rediscovering an identity that was lost in school stress is essential for a student, because a rediscovered interest provides guidance and purpose. Students should embrace the time they have now before they grow older and truly face the daunting burdens of work and finances. Summer is a nice time—a nice time to venture with eccentric thoughts rather than suicide by academics to merely “get ahead.”
Read Fun Is Enriching, Too.
