How to Avoid Slacking Off Before and After Spring Break

Every teenager knows that a break from school is a mercy call from the heavens, giving us a chance to slow down and enjoy some much deserved rest and relaxation.

Spring break is one of these very few pleasant intermissions from regular life, but causes the same problem all of us face during the preview and the aftermath of this short-lived vacation: the slacking-off slump.

It may seem impossible to avoid being thwarted by the ceaseless fatigue that plagues us the week before and the week after spring break, but never fear, here are a few helpful tips that may help you out!

BEFORE:
Don't Think About It
It may seem blasphemous to force yourself to believe that spring break isn’t going to happen, but pretending like next week is just another week of school, may cause you to continue as you always do with steady schoolwork. Thus creating a pleasant sense of surprise when you wake up the first Monday morning at ten and aren’t late for anything.

Keep Yourself Busy
This is an age-old trick that may be as simple as actually doing your homework the night before the class, or as extreme as taking up kickboxing for a week. Both ways your mind is distracted and the week will fly by quickly, making it impossible for the slacking-off slump to infect your work habits.

Go to Bed Early
As crazy as it may sound, when your parents used to say, “The faster you go to sleep, the faster it will be morning!” they were right. Going to bed at nine or 10 will not only give you more energy to keep busy during the day, but it also kills time and makes the days go by faster. Before you have time to realize it, it will be Friday afternoon.

Treat the Week Like the Tour De France
Use the week before spring break as your sprinting week. This is your chance to catch up on homework you haven’t done, and give your 100 per cent until the very last minute on Friday. After all, you won’t even have to think about homework for a whole week afterward.

AFTER:
Count Down the Days to Summer
Alas, once the restful week is over, you have to snap back to reality and accept that school will continue even if the fond memories of spring break are still alive in your heart. The best way to avoid the depression that is sure to follow is looking forward to the next (longer) break coming up: summer!

Relate Everything to Spring Break
So we all know that the major conversation topic for the week after spring break is of course, spring break. So why not let that flow into your schoolwork? Need to write an essay? Write about spring break! Need to do math? Calculate the trigonometric angles of a slice of pizza you ate on spring break! The possibilities are endless!

Schedule in Time for Nostalgia
Thinking about and missing spring break isn’t going to do you any good, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget it never happened! Shift your focus onto school during the day, and set aside an hour at night to look at photos and share some laughs with friends about the good old days.

When faced with the deadly slacking-off slump, we must rise to the occasion with fierce battle techniques or succumb and suffer. Even when the promises of spring break are inviting, and the hilarious (and sometimes heartfelt) souvenirs are distracting, school will always remain a high priority. Just remember, don’t give in, and have the best spring break imaginable.