There is life after exams

Exams finish, and just like that, the pressure lifts. Though it feels temporary at most. Waking up the next several days is very strange, knowing that you don't have to get to campus and survive off energy drinks and library all-nighters. Eating healthy becomes a habit again and you've got time to go the gym every day. Free time is in abundance, but the question is - what do I do with it?

The thing about summer as a uni student is that it's the first time you get 2, 3, sometimes even 4 months of pure free time with full choice on what to do with it. And at first, that feels amazing. You get to sleep in, you see friends every day, you finally watch that show everyone’s been talking about. But after a while, the aimlessness creeps in. You might have been unsuccessful in securing an internship, so the fear of wasting your time gets even bigger. What should I be doing with my time? 4 months is a third of a whole year – but that figure doesn't mean much when you consider how much work you do in those other 8 months of the year.

Everyone around you seems to be doing something - working, travelling, summer school. It's almost like its own new pressure to make the most of your summer instead of wasting it. And I'll say it myself - don't waste it. But don't let your summer being productive be defined by what you did in comparison to your friends or course mates. Do what feels right. Maybe you wanted to just reconnect with the gym and pick up reading again – if it feels right for you, then who can tell you you've wasted it?

No one’s judging how you spend your summer. Not your course mates, not your family, not some imaginary standard of productivity. The only thing that matters is that when September comes, you don’t look back and think, I wish I'd have done A, B, C and an endless list of things you've seen people online achieve which has made you think you need to as well.

So honestly, take a breath. you've just finished an entire year of university. You've earned your break, so use it to however you feel will give you that feeling of rest. Take your break.