Summer—a six letter word that promises pristine mornings, sunny afternoons and nights charged with love, excitement and traces of the hot and humid day that is drawing to a close. It is a time to swim in the ocean, read on the deck and drink ice cold water while lounging on the beach, trying to avoid the scorching sand. Maybe you have a summer internship. Maybe you're taking classes. Maybe you're working a summer job. But it's different in the summer. No matter what your opinion is on which season is the best or how warm is too warm, you can't argue that there is something special about the summer.
In addition to being the perfect time to relax, get tan, make some money and ignore the GPA that is slowly creeping towards zero (or fix it), summer can also be a great time to focus on goals. Self-improvement is always something that we should strive for, and with decreased stress about exams, formals and work for that one unnecessarily work-intensive class, summer is the ideal time for some reflection and goal-setting. College students seem to set similar goals, which tend to include something about getting their life together, something about not being totally lazy and something about shedding a few pounds. Here is a rundown of some typical summer goals that are beneficial, wholesome, and attainable.
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The first goal is to get healthy. Everyone knows that the typical college diet consists of pizza, French fries and maybe a stray pickle here and there when they serve it to you with your burger. Don't get me wrong, burgers are absolutely delicious, and carbs may or may not be the best gift that God gave to mankind - but it's just a fact that you feel a million times better if you're eating healthily, exercising and getting the right amount of sleep. Related to this is the goal to be more active. This isn't just about pumping iron or spending three hours on the elliptical. It's about the lifestyle change. Spend more time outside, get some fresh air and don't be afraid to move from your bed every once in a while. It is also important to stay hydrated during the summer, because dehydration can be very detrimental and can lead to lower functionality, poor nights of sleep, headaches and other complications.
Socially, the summer is a great time to reconnect with old friends, maintain relationships with friends from college and maybe even find some new friends. Yes, yes, I know. People are terrible and scary, and who needs friends anyway? But you never know what friendships or future contacts you could be missing out on! Additionally, summer is a prime time to spend time with family, especially family who you may not have the time, patience or interest to see as much during the school year.
Summer is also a great time to develop a new skill of some sort. Whether this be playing a new card game, improving in a sport, learning a new programming language or breaking the record for watching the most consecutive hours of Netflix - OK, maybe not that one - it is rarely a negative thing to pick up a new skill or to find a new passion.
Despite this focus of working towards improvement, relaxation is also one of the points of summer. Make sure to set yourself a goal to take some time to relax, no matter how busy your summer schedule gets. Perhaps try to read more than you do during the winter. Or maybe you want to hang out with friends, cook dinner together and watch a movie that you've all been meaning to watch. It's totally your call, just make sure to refresh yourself for the year to come.
Of course, on a more superficial level, many people - girls especially - use the summer as an opportunity to try to get a stunning tan - use sunscreen - or lose some weight, which can be a byproduct of a healthier lifestyle in general. And this is OK! Obviously we can't forget that everyone is beautiful in their own way, losing too much weight can be really unhealthy, yadda yadda yadda. All of this is really important, and I am in no way saying that any of it is false or stupid. Self-confidence is essential, as is maintaining your health. But if you gained some weight when you ate Chinese food for 10 consecutive days during finals or if you wish that you had abs rather than "flabs," there is nothing wrong with working towards a (healthy) fitness or weight-loss goal. And the discipline that this takes can also be beneficial in other areas of your life as well.
Ultimately, summer goals should be used as an opportunity to love and appreciate yourself, especially if you tend to be down on yourself a lot. Whether it's by being generally healthier, strengthening your social life, proving to yourself that you are capable of achievement or by having the discipline to improve a different aspect of your life, the accomplishment is bound to make you feel better about yourself. And ultimately, loving yourself is one of the most important things that we can do for ourselves in a world so filled with negativity, cynicism and hatred.
So have fun, get tan and love yourself—because you deserve it!
