How to Have a Productive Summer

Last night I found myself sitting on my bed eating a bag full of gummy candies. It was 7 p.m., and after the fifth consecutive episode of “Breaking Bad” on Netflix, I had no intention of moving — or putting on pants.

A lot of college students get home from a long semester, throw a month’s worth of dirty laundry in their washing machines, and settle on the couch until late August. I’m a victim of post-finals laziness as well, and it’s easy to spend an entire summer completely absent-minded, unengaged, and unproductive.

Many people would say that a “productive” summer for college students is spent working multiple jobs and internships while struggling to pay monthly rent on a Manhattan apartment (with three roommates, of course, and hardly enough money to eat Ramen noodles). A big name internship in the city that’s underpaid and over-demanding is a necessity for many collegiate over-achievers—but it may be just as unproductive as a pants-less HBO binge in your suburban living room.

For some people, a resume-building internship may give you an edge in the job market, but all that time spent in the copy room doesn’t leave much room for self-reflection. Nor does fetching coffee or creating excel documents. Then again, if you’re freakishly certain of your life path, spending a summer as an intern can be a rewarding and thought provoking experience. Maybe you’re lucky and land a position where you get to really apply your education and have the freedom to make significant contributions to the company.

With no homework and an abundant amount of free time, summer is the time when we should try to figure out which people we want to be around, what we want to offer the world, and who we want to love. We should think critically, self-reflect and try to figure out what makes us happy. We should also take advantage of our dwindling youth and take impromptu road trips with high school best friends.

Forget everything that you think you’re supposed to do, and start doing the things that challenge your body or mind. Take up yoga. Research something you’ve always been curious about. And if you’re at a job or internship, don’t just go through the motions—start figuring out what you love and hate about your cubicle.

With two internships and a job this summer, I hope to practice what I preach. I imagine I might slip into a thoughtless work pattern and end up pants-less once again in front of the TV. I’ll try not to be discouraged, and I’ll peel myself from the couch and try to make sense of this interesting moment in time where I’m young, free, curious, and slightly (but safely) spontaneous.

Photo from http://static.tumblr.com/fe1lc82/a6fm22d6s/summer-at-lonely-beach-1440x9...