10 Things To Do During Your Winter Break | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Lifestyle

10 Things To Do During Your Winter Break

Ways to Relax and Stay Productive During Your Time Off

36
10 Things To Do During Your Winter Break
Google Images

With finals over, we college students can finally exhale a sigh of relief knowing we won't have to enter another classroom until January. Some of us, however, walked off campus for the last time this semester and found ourselves wondering, "Well, now what?" If you're squirming a little without the weight of assignments bearing on your shoulders, and you're considering what you should do with yourself to keep from going stir crazy over the next month, here are a few simple ideas!

1. Absolutely Nothing

Take a break. You've worked hard, so let yourself have a day or two where you just sleep or hang out on the couch. Make a point to have some time with nothing on your to-do list.

2. Get Some Sleep You've Been Missing Out On

Over weeks or months of getting inadequate sleep, we accumulate "sleep debt." While studies have shown that we really can't catch up on sleep we've missed with one or two days of sleeping in, Scientific American explains that we can recoup this loss over time by going to sleep when we're tired and waking up on our own in the morning, without the help of an alarm clock. Try to do this over the break and see how much better you feel.

3. Binge Watch a TV Show

Catch up on shows you've missed because you've been studying, re-watch your favorite series for the fifth time, or finally get around to finishing the second season of Stranger Things. Let your mind rest.

4. Read a Book

How often do we take time to read for pleasure? Not very often. Take the opportunity to pull out that book you've been meaning to finish, or wander around a book store until something catches your eye, and actually read. You'll keep your brain stimulated, feel a sense of accomplishment when you finish, and hopefully encounter a great story.

5. Watch Christmas Movies

Christmas is the best time to watch "kid movies" and indulge your inner child. Find a few movies that excite your Christmas spirit. Whether it be A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, It's a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Santa Clause, Elf, or a number of others, everyone has a Christmas movie they like. Grab some hot chocolate and relax in front of a happy holiday movie.

6. Complete a Project

We still need to feel productive over the break, so choose a project that interests you and see it through to the end. Make a scrapbook of 2017, paint a picture, build something, start a journal, or even make a comprehensive list of goals for the upcoming year. Find something you enjoy that is also productive for your life.

7. Make Holiday Treats

One of my favorite Christmas time activities is making Christmas cookies and chocolate-covered goodies with my mom and sisters. It's a great way to spend time with others and make some delicious treats to enjoy over the break. These also make great gifts!

8. Take a Day Trip

Take a mini-vacation to a nearby city and just enjoy being somewhere different. Visit a museum or aquarium, do some shopping, go see a movie or a play, or try a local place in the area you're visiting.

9. Volunteer

Choose a cause or organization with which you want to volunteer, and spend some time lending others a hand. The holiday season is a great time to give not only gifts but also time to others, and there are numerous ways you can get involved. If you're having trouble deciding where you want to invest your time, search online for volunteer opportunities in your area.

10. Spend Quality Time with Friends and Family

A break is the best time to visit with family and friends. You can catch up on events you may have missed talking about throughout the semester, and you can really enjoy the time you have with them, without a homework assignment due at midnight looming over your head. Take the time to go visit relatives, or call your friends you've not seen in awhile and go out for coffee.


Take some time this break to not only truly relax, but also to do something to occupy your mind and keep a level of productivity. That way, you'll feel refreshed before your next semester, and won't be blindsided by work after just lounging around for a month!

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

3261
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

302256
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments