How to Relax This Spring Break

By McKenna Larson

Spring Break should be a time for students to decompress after hard first months of the semester but thoughts of upcoming homework or pressure to make plans can ruin any relaxation efforts. Here are my simple tips to have a relaxed Spring Break that serves your needs. 

1. The biggest tip I have is to listen to your body. If you need more sleep, more exercise, more alone time, more time with others–do those things. Try not to force yourself into activities or patterns that make you uncomfortable simply because you now have free time. A break from school should be a time you can really do whatever you want without the constraints of classwork or stringent self-expectations. 
2. To make the most of your time off, I recommend scheduling all homework and studying before the break starts so you maximize the time you have for yourself. If you do have homework over your time off, I would recommend planning a day or two to knock out the assignments early so they don’t hang over you all week. It can be tempting to procrastinate but spending a day getting schoolwork over with will give you a low stress break. 
3. Get in touch with your people or spend some time alone. If the semester has caused you to isolate, lose touch with friends, or miss opportunities to socialize, this can be a perfect time to contact your people and reconnect. If the opposite is true and your social energy is waning, use the week to be alone and recharge. If you truly want to relax, don’t force yourself to fill the week with activity but be selective and do things that serve your needs. This could mean vacationing with friends or picking up a hobby that has gone neglected through the semester. We all recharge differently, so knowing what you need is important in getting the most out of a school break, even if you are physically doing the least. 
4. Enjoy the sun in some way either by being active or simply sitting outside with a good book. Hopefully the sunshine will continue through the end of March, and we can all get some much-needed Vitamin D. With busy student schedules it can be hard to get into the sun and enjoy Golden’s spring climate, but this break is the perfect time to do so, even if you just sit in your own yard for a few minutes. 
5. My personal favorite way to relax with my free time is to get a mango black tea boba drink. Treat yourself to something delicious because you deserve it after all you’ve done this semester.