Don’t work too hard this summer

After weeks of tests, projects and never-ending stress, summer is finally upon us. While summers growing up consisted of spending hours at the pool and hours playing outside, in college, we tend to find ourselves working jobs or internships throughout our nearly four-month break. While it’s fine for us to make some cash this summer, it’s important to realize work isn’t the most important thing to do this summer.

Despite the need to jump into our summer jobs immediately, it can be beneficial for us to take some time off, be it a couple of days or weeks. After being in “go-mode” for three months straight and nearly seven months of academic stressors, it’s helpful to rest and recharge. 

Between classes, extracurriculars, jobs and our lives outside of academia, it can be a lot for students to take on, becoming overwhelming at times. Finals can be a stressful time of year as well and taking some time off to shake the school stress out of our minds can ensure energy when we finally start our internships or jobs. 

Over the summer, it’s the perfect opportunity to perfect a work-life balance. It can become easy to be distracted during the school year and assignments and tests can push the care we need to the back burner. 

When all we have to focus on in the summer is our jobs, we can learn how to prioritize time for ourselves without all the other responsibilities put upon us during the school year. When we finally come back after summer is over, we can take what we learned from what does and doesn’t work for us and start the next year on a fresh note. 

As we get older, we think we have to make summer all about work. However, college is the last time you’ll be able to have a “summer vacation” before post-grad life makes you work consistently until you retire. 

Take those road trips, spend a couple of days at the lake or beach and have those late-night bonfires this summer. We’ll remember those fun summer memories years from now as opposed to what minimum-wage job we worked or the unpaid internship we did for class credit. 

Summer is one of the best seasons, thanks in part to the lack of school and plenty of time to spend with our friends and family. However, we still have to work to pay for rent, utilities and save up for next year’s expenses. We need to realize we can still have fun amidst all the work we’re doing. So pump the brakes and take some time to make memories this summer. There will be plenty of time to get back into “hustle culture” come September.