I am, without a doubt, a list person. When I have to go to the store, even if for a few things, I have a list with me. Therefore it goes without saying that every summer, I have a to-do list of things I hope to accomplish before returning to school. However, if you're anything like me when it comes to completing to-do lists, you know that things don't always go as planned.
1. Making sure you work-out or go to the gym regularly.
If you're one to make lists for each day (which I am definitely not that committed to lists, but to each their own), then this is probably at the top.
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Expectation: Most people aspire to have a gym or home work-out schedule: leg day, arm day, rest day, etc.
Reality: However, if you're like me, this is one thing on the list that more commonly doesn't get checked off. There's no schedule, there's no routine and in the end, there's also probably no exercise (or at least not enough). You're tired from work/your internship, or you're tired from being social, or you're just tired from life. Honestly, unless you have mounds of self-determination (which is totally great!) you're probably gonna end up finding other things to take up your time than by spending it at the gym.
2. Getting a Tan.
If you're like me, then you know that tanning regularly occurs on your to-do list.
Expectation: This is something we all aspired towards each year. We hope to spend more time outside and therefore will absorb the suns rays and it will make our skin beautifully tanned.
Reality: The time we spend in the sun is inversely correlated to the amount of time we have to spend at work, at an internship, or inside binging Netflix. And the few amount of times that we do get to spend outside instantly burns our skin bright red as a lobster.
3. Hanging out with friends.
Spending quality time with our friends over break usually ends up towards the top of our lists as well, but accomplishing this feat is easier said than done.
Expectation: Planning out trips with our friends and making sure we see the newest movies as soon as they come into theaters will be our top priority (after jobs/internships of course). We'll see the world (or city) with them and spend countless nights laughing until we cry.
Reality: Matching your free times and schedules prove to be harder than coordinating a synchronized swimming routine for a herd of cattle. They're always busy when you're free and you're always busy when they are. Your "time" with your friends trickles down to being countless shared articles and pictures on Facebook, liking each others photos on Instagram and staying caught up on what they're doing via Snapchat.
4. Getting organized.
We probably waste a lot of time daydreaming of a time when our lives will covered in sticky notes and calendars and millions of to-do lists for every occasion.
Expectation: Our days, nights, meals, celebrations, sleep schedules, etc. have been planned out so that we may make the most of our time this summer. Additionally, we plan to make sure our living space (or the stuff for school) are all rearranged and tidied up.
Reality: The most organized we get is when we create a new board on Pinterest for everything we hope to do once we finally get around to organization-land. We stick pins in neat desk organizing ideas, or home DIY projects for storing all our stuff, or for different recipes we could make this summer. However, the completion of those tasks and pins rarely occurs.
5. Catch up on sleep.
This is something we keep adding to any new list we create. We've gotten behind on sleep throughout the semester and feel like we need to sleep for a thousand years once finals are over.
Expectation: Let's sleep all the time! When we're asleep, we dream about the next time we're gonna be able to sleep and how great that feels. We'll wake up feeling rested and birds will sing and the world's problems will fade away because we've been able to sleep finally.
Reality: The "start next episode" button on Netflix really gets in the way of our sleep time. Who's got time to sleep when you've got a job or internship, and then come home and find that you've left Netflix up to start where you left off and "somehow" play gets pressed and there goes your sleep. Additionally, the times you don't spend watching Netflix are the times when you finally get a chance to see your friends and you spend all night either out or sitting next to each other while on your perspective devices still sharing those funny pictures or articles because passing your phone takes too much work. All in all, sleep, despite having more time than during the semester, is still no where to be found.
