Every year, students go into summer break with huge goals and bucket lists. People say things like, “This summer I’m going to be productive.” Suddenly everyone wants to wake up at 6:00 in the morning, go to the gym everyday, read five books, learn a new skill, get a job, volunteer, and somehow become a brand new person before September. Social media makes it seem like if you are not constantly doing something important, you are “wasting your summer.”
But in reality, most students spend the first week of summer sleeping until noon and sitting on their phones for five hours straight. And honestly, after the school year, who can blame them?
During the school year, students wake up super early, sit in classes all day, do sports after school, homework at night, study for tests, and somehow still try to have a social life. By the time summer starts, everyone is exhausted. The second school ends, students suddenly remember what relaxation feels like. Sleeping in until noon becomes normal because let’s be real, nobody actually wants to wake up at 7:00 in the morning during July unless they absolutely have to. Watching random Tik Toks and binge watching shows for hours straight becomes a full afternoon activity. Even putting away laundry starts to feel like a major accomplishment.
The funny part is that students still try to convince themselves they are being productive. Someone will spend the entire day laying in bed and then say they were “relaxing for mental health.” People make giant summer to-do lists and bucket lists and then completely forget about them three days later. Even parents buy notebooks sometime for “summer planning” and then never open them again after June.
Social media also makes summer feel like a competition. One person is traveling anywhere you could imagine, another person is working out every day, and someone else somehow already has their entire future planned out at sixteen years old. Meanwhile, most students are just trying to figure out what time they should finally get out of bed or what snack to eat while watching another episode of the show they have already seen three times.
The truth is, summer does not need to be perfectly productive all the time. Students deserve a break after working hard all year. Relaxing for a few months does not mean someone is lazy. Sometimes the best part of summer is simply not having alarms, homework, or teachers nagging the students all the time.
Then August hits, and everyone starts panicking. Students suddenly remember summer assignments exist, sleep schedules are completely ruined, and stores start putting out school supplies way too early. Nothing ruins a good summer day faster than seeing backpacks and notebooks in a store when you are just trying to enjoy your break.
Even though students always promise themselves they will have the “perfect productive summer,” it almost never happens. And honestly, that is probably okay. Summer break is one of the only times students can actually relax before another year of tests, essays, and waking up way too early. Summer is one of the only times students actually get to relax without constantly stressing about grades and assignment deadlines. If spending part of the summer doing nothing is wrong, then most students probably do not want to be right.
