Today I Learned How to Spring Break

If you were using the weather as any indicator, you’d think that spring had already started, but we have a few more weeks until the true equinox is upon us. Still, with the coming of the spring season means one important thing for students (and teachers): Spring Break.

Spring Break--the term evokes shimmery sun-lit beaches and exotic locations halfway across the globe. Maybe your family has planned a seasonal getaway, or maybe you’re picking up a few more shifts at work, or maybe you’re studying to get back on track at school (or cram for an upcoming college entrance exam...ahem). Whatever the case may be, Spring Break should be a time for enrichment, even if not the traditional kind.

How does one properly Spring Break? Consider that while you are leaving school behind, you are not necessarily turning off your brain. You’ll be doing something during your week away from chem lab or choir practice, from crammed passing periods and analyzing the diction in Macbeth, and what you do can ripple into many parts of your life.

With your week off, consider your many intelligences--musical-rhythmic, visual-spatial, verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic--and how they can be put to good use.

One part of college admissions is writing essays and responding to short-response questions. Colleges will ask you your favorite memory of a concert, or what’s your most-prized possession. And you know what? It’s a time like Spring Break--when you’re allowed a chance to go off the beaten path, to invest a little extra time into something that normally gets lost in the rush of going to class and studying and staying up until 3am--that allows you to live out what later becomes those answers.

To properly Spring Break is to read that book you’ve had on the night stand for the whole year. It’s seeing that friend you’ve only passed in the hallway. It’s hiking a trail 45 minutes from your house. To Spring Break means that you are allowed to be human, if you didn’t already feel that way--if, maybe, the force of school and clubs and projects and parents has clicked your stress level to frighteningly new heights.

Believe or not, what you do in the small moments when you aren’t expected to do anything at all will leave a lasting impression on you. And even if you are planning on a study-intense Spring Break, at least treat yourself to a leisurely pace, with plenty of study breaks. The point is that Spring Breaking isn’t going to be the way you change your entire life, but it can be a nice bit of icing on a cake, a spice that adds texture to a meal.

That’s what you should be doing during Spring Break: feeding yourself. And not in that Taco Bell crunchwrap kind of way. (Although, those can be good too. Mentally. Emotionally.)

So while there are no quick facts or test tips for this week’s blog, there is one message: don’t let a good thing go to waste. Tweak your attitude and recognize that breaks are great for many reasons, and this one can be a time for self-care and self-discovery. You may not write about what you do in a college admissions essay, but you could just ripple into something that does.

And well, we at B2A are still here for those that really need some time to cram for the SAT or ACT, or need to get back on track on school. These are worthy pursuits as well, and we are happy to help students ease their stress during Spring Break. So if you do need help with test prep or your classes or just want some structure to your week, we got you covered. We can all Spring Break the right way together.