For many students, summer break is a time to gain experience, earn money, study for a multitude of different exams, and overall just work on yourself. College students head off to summer break being asked “what do you have planned for the summer?”, “are you getting a job?”, “have you found an internship?”, and more often than not, the response fulfills the expectation. It is quite impeccable how we spend two whole semesters working night and day to be the very best we could be, and carry on that hard work into the summer; which was once used as a time of rest and rejuvination.

Before going off to break, I was asked a lot by many different people what I had lined up this summer, and my answer was non-other than “I just wanna go home.”. The 2021-2022 academic year was an unforgettable experience, in both the good and the bad ways. I have never worked myself so hard I burnt out by the beginning of the spring. I had driven myself into crippling anxiety and a state of exhaustion I had never felt before. Naturally, I knew something was up when I started falling behind on my classes and lost the will to care enough about it. Eventually, I found my way back and went off to the summer yearning rest.

After I had just barely gotten back on the college-student grind, the question of what I was doing this summer felt like a punch in the gut. It felt as though all the hard work I was already putting in in my studies and extracurriculars, was simply not enough. The people asking the question hadn’t intended it to be that way at all, and it is honestly a very fair and caring question, but that question drove me to ask myself “should I be doing something this summer?”. Of course, by then, it was too late to find anything and I was already content with not doing anything this summer, but the question still pounded my head for a long long time.

Fast-forward to me being around 23 days away from going back to campus, and I am feeling unproductive and regretful for not having accomplished anything this summer. I spend hours a day watching fellow class mates do amazing things with their time, and I am ever so happy for them. But to be candid, it also stings a little because here I am doing nothing but watching movies and tv all day. It shouldn’t be this way. When did all this pressure start being put on college students? When were all these expectations set on us? There was a time when just going to college was an accomplishment, and now so much is expected from us, at such a young age. When will we have time to live?

I remember talking to a friend about this before we wrapped up the semester, and she said “why can’t we just rest during the time we were given to rest?”, and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Getting jobs, internships, doing research is all incredible. These are opportunities I wouldn’t pass up myself if they crossed my path. I’m not at all trying to criticize those who use their summer to gain experience, I deeply commend you and I am nothing short of proud of you! I’m just trying to get rid of this unspoken expectation that expects us all to be doing something during break. While utilizing your summer to do something productive is great, there also shouldn’t be shame in resting. If I hadn’t used my summer to just rest and take time to myself, I genuinely don’t know if I would make it to the fall.

I recognize that I am privileged to be able to use my summer for rest, as I know that is unfortunately not the case for everyone. I’m just trying to find a way to use this guilt of resting as way to maybe relate with someone and hopefully break the stigma to some degree. All I’m trying to say is, there should not be shame in resting, there should be pride in recognizing that you require rest to get back up and work hard again. Rest easy ❤

All the love,

Danyah