As I’m sure you’ve heard, spring is a time when students start to lose incentive. Apparently, as April showers bring May flowers, May flowers tend to bring out an addiction to sunbathing, ice cream and blowing off school. I understand the logic in that, however, I don’t think it is always accurate. Actually, I would argue that some students are more productive when it’s nice outside.
I, for one, am having a difficult time getting my college work done because spring has not yet reared its lovely head. Here in upstate New York, we’ve had some random 50 degree days that allow me to hope I’ll see tulips popping up any day now. But those days are complete teases. Inevitably, they are followed by days of freezing winds and flurries. It’s a little depressing.
Even more unfortunate, I find my weather funk has also seeped into my academic life. Instead of conquering my senior portfolio and last assignments of my college career, all I am doing is wasting time and finding excuses to take naps and make sure my Netflix subscription does not go unused. I wake up with intentions of working until 9 p.m. However, if I’m lucky, I complete 40 percent of what I set out to accomplish. This is a problem.
Why am I telling you about my senioritis/winter-allergy? I am determined to prepare you for your college career. Weather has the power to influence more than your wardrobe. When you are weary of snow, ice, and cold, or any other sort of depression-inducing weather pattern, you tend to be much less revved up for paper writing and textbook highlighting. It can actually make you more apt to want to sleep, eat and be unproductive in general.
On the other hand, warmth, color and sunlight will release some endorphins and energy into your system. The happiness that spring brings can give you the motivation to get your work done. After all, I’m more willing to produce quality work when I have a reward waiting for me on the other side. So what can you do if the sun is refusing to shine where you are? Get out of your funk — take a weekend trip somewhere, get some exercise, meditate, do something just for the fun of it. Your work will still be there when you get back, yes, but sometimes the best thing you can do is just to step away from a bit.
And when it finally becomes nice out — what is more rousing than a weekend with sixty-degree temps, blooming flowers and the ability to go outside without a coat?
Written by Rachel Montpelier. Rachel is a senior at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. and is the editorial assistant at NextStepU.
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