Keeping busy during the summer

I have now just recently learned that returning home following my freshman year of college can be tougher than I originally expected. Transitioning from a bustling student life full of coursework, friends, and city life to my previous home life routine of the past eighteen years has thrown me for a bit of a loop. It started with needing a way to fill my time, to desperately missing all of the relationships I forged this year, to longing for the freedom that college gifted me. It can be difficult to keep yourself both physically and mentally occupied during the summer following such a drastic (and positive) life change. Here is my advice to fill the time in a way other than meandering through instagram and binging on Netflix.

Before I arrived home for the summer, I set a goal for myself: to read a novel that I had been wanting to for a long time. In this case an 800+ page piece of Russian literature. As I grow older and become further invested and buried in my career, my time to read will no doubt dwindle. That being said, the time to fill my head with classic (or fluff) stories is now. My tentative goal is to read my piece of literature this summer, or at least make a significant enough dent that I am sure I will be able to finish the book at some point in the near future. Granted, reading is not for everyone. There are other goals you can set, like learn a language or invest in the stock market, that can bring the kind of satisfaction that reading brings to me.

I also try my best to stay updated on my friends’ lives. When I first came home, I felt as if I went from 100 to zero regarding my new friends. I no longer lived with them, which felt like a drastic separation. As I said in a previous post, these people became my family. The thought of not being a major part of their lives for the next few months was unthinkable. To alleviate the separation pain, I promised myself to text or call each friend at least once a week. While I keep in touch with some more than others, it always brings a smile to my face and a sense of comfort to hear what my friends are doing. I much prefer hearing about what my friends are doing now to spending days in my Snapchat memories wishing I was living those moments again.

Another important aspect of summer that I’ve found is the necessity of filling my time. A summer that started with one part-time job soon became a summer with several days filled differently. I went into these three months with my vacations planned (and left days open for spontaneous trips with my friends). That being said, I knew when I was not available. As the days passed, opportunities fell into my lap. With my days filled, I have less to think about what I am missing or what I could be doing. I have rediscovered the past times my friends from home and I enjoyed before our lives changed, as well as spent plenty of time catching each other up on our lives. It was easy to forget the home I enjoyed before I left for school. Summer has allowed me to become a part of it again.

Finally, I find great solace in writing letters. In an age where our cell phones are glued to our hands, the art of handwritten notes has lost its novelty. Call me old school, but there is a different kind of joy that comes from finding a letter in the mail than that of receiving a text. Handwritten words last, and they are tangible. They can be kept and opened when you miss a person and read over and over. Not to mention, it can be fun writing out words and thoughts and memories for another person to read.

To close, the summer is what you make of it. I was pretty distraught after saying my goodbyes and heading home to my former life, but after some reflection I’ve learned to adapt my post-college self to being home again.

a photo from a spontaneous trip to NYC