Making the Most Out of Summer: Titans Edition
More often than not, we find ourselves having trouble figuring out how to spend our summer break, especially when we’re cooped up at home. In order to beat that summer slump we provided a few ideas for you to keep yourself busy this break.
Productivity Prime
There’s always time for growth! Despite the summer being associated with breaks and vacation, you can always continue with your personal development no matter how small. In fact, some people associate the break with more time for their personal growth – hence the seasonal promotion of summer classes. While there’s no shame in taking time off and letting off steam, one might find their fun in exploring productive hobbies during the scheduled break. Here are four ideas on how to stay productive this summer break!
Take an Online Course
It has been a year or so of online learning and you might have got bored of your usual subjects. EdX, Coursera, Udemy, and similar websites offer hundreds of interesting courses for the jack-of-all-trades inside of us! Some courses offer free certificates with or without a college email registration. Otherwise, you could pay for the certificates (which cost at least $30, in Coursera) or follow through the courses without certification. You might be a business major with an interest in Philosophy unoffered by your course: Coursera is the key. Anything, under the sun (or even out in space), that you could be interested in could possibly be offered online! Binge a course or take a few minutes daily; you have full control and potential thanks to the efforts of these colleges porting their subjects online. Even Enderun Extensions offers certificate courses that might fit to your liking! For those scholars at heart, we never stop learning!
https://www.coursera.org/learn/philosophy-cognitive-sciences
Look for an Online Job
Job-hunting in the pandemic might be a fierce hunt, but it never hurts to try. The shift to work-from-home increased the demand, and potential, for jobs that can be done purely remote. Virtual assistants, freelancing, typing jobs, and even making your own online business are a few options that students prefer to do. If you lean towards the Enderun academic side, you could even do your internship during the summer months!
Work on your Hobbies (or make new ones!)
The break is the perfect time to explore yourself, and the things you like! With the summer sales and free time, you could try out hobbies that interest you. In the interwebs, more kids are trying out arts and crafts for themselves: from painting to knitting to clay modelling. In the field of music, there are a lot of instruments one could try picking up. It doesn’t matter if you’re naturally good at it or not, what matters is you tried and enjoyed the process. So, pick up that paintbrush and mindlessly (or thoughtfully, if that’s your thing) paint!
Take the Midyear Term
Summer Chillax
There’s always some sort of stigma surrounding the idea of staying at home, binge-watching your favorite Netflix show or animated series instead of doing something that people typically perceive as productive. While it is important to jot down a to-do list every now and then, it is just as imperative to take a breather and spend some time for yourself. Dedicating a few days or so to unwind and chill in bed without checking your emails every hour isn’t a sin and shouldn’t be considered to be one. We all should start embedding the idea in our mindsets of letting ourselves take a break whenever we need it. Here are a few ways to do so!
Explore Different Musical Genres
Music is all the rave regardless of the time of year. Whether you’re in need of accompaniment during a study session in need of productivity or an upbeat rhythm to dance your heart to, music is the universal key. Instead of sticking to your normal playlist, try exploring and listening to new genres. You can ask your friends to create a playlist for you or find a random one on Youtube for when you’re trying to motivate yourself to finish your errands. Of course, this doesn’t equal completely abandoning your playlists. It’s simply a change of pace—in this case, a different beat (pun intended).
Binge Watch Your Heart Out!
There are plenty of platforms providing both entertainment and learning experiences online. You simply need to type in the keyword of your interest and hit search. On Netflix, you can look up a documentary or two and try them out. If they aren’t up your alley, feel free to try again until you find something that suits your interests. If not, you can always try YouTube. YouTube has various educational videos waiting to be watched. These videos aren’t limited to content from channels such as Crash Course and Amoeba Sisters. There is more than enough content online that will entice you if you look hard enough. Who knows? The right video may end up on your recommended list. However, it is important to remember that you must practice proper online etiquette and be meticulous when you’re creating new accounts for streaming.
Read a Book
Remember that book that’s been sitting on your shelf for months because you never found the right time to pick it up and start reading? Well, now is the perfect opportunity to finally peel off the plastic and flip a page. For those ebook readers out there, it’s time to take out your devices and start scrolling! Try to give yourself a set reading goal and reward yourself for accomplishing your tasks. Although it can take a while to get into the habit of reading, it is important to remember to do it at your own pace and try to explore different genres. Above all, don’t judge a book by its cover. While it is tempting to succumb to buying a novel because of its eye-catching cover and attention-grabbing synopsis, try to read the first few pages to gauge whether it’s up to your alley. If you can’t do that, you can also look up reviews online by looking up the title in your search bar and adding ‘review’ as a keyword.
Take a Rest
What’s keeping you from getting enough sleep? Contrary to what we learn in school, instead of the usual idea that students should be getting at least 8 hours of sleep, adolescents should be getting 9 to 10 hours of shut-eye a day according to Sleep Advisor. Unfortunately, most people fail to get enough rest. If we do not restore the energy that we exert in the time we are awake, it is most likely that our cognitive and social abilities will be hindered from being maximized. Both of which are crucial for everyday activities, especially once classes start rolling in again. After all the blood, sweat, and tears we shed the past academic year, it’s time to make up for it with a deserved trip to dreamville.
Whichever way you decide to spend your summer, it is imperative that you enjoy the time you spend with whoever, doing whatever. Be productive or take the time to relax. Do whatever helps you enjoy the grind to the maximum. Let’s make our Titan summer worthwhile!
