We’ve all been there. The summer just moves by so fast and you feel like you never have time for anything. The best way to approach this topic would be to divide it into a weird timeline. These experiences are not based on any specific person.

1) May-July: The Time Of Peace, Harmony, And No Prep

It’s most definitely “Lit” as the cool kids would say. You didn’t let finals let you turn into the second coming of Jack Torrance and you’ll totally have a great summer! You without a doubt will have a lot of plans to see everyone even though you have a job. You already made your class schedule so now life is one big Jimmy Buffett concert! Who needs to worry about school and class now?

2) Late July-August: The Cracks Begin To Appear

You sure did a lot of stuff those first few weeks of break. However you’ve slipped into some weird, comfortable routine that is some distorted version of your high school one. You saw a lot of people the first week or so and made additional “plans” with them. Did you keep them? Absolutely not! You're too busy camp-counseling, cleaning, cashiering, or just sleeping really to commit to any large-scale plans. It's also super duper hot. The group chat just isn't getting shit done. That’s ok, there’s still time. You work every day. You’re an adult. You are now hanging out with the same 3-5 people over and over as family complains that you don’t see them. School is still kinda far away.

3) Mid-August: Last Chance

You’ve seen some emails with your school’s name on it, but the sheer anxiety of clicking on it requires too much energy. It’s summer so just go out and do the same thing again. Work or sleeping all day has made time move by pretty fast. Remember at the start of the summer you said you were going to start a new diet regiment? Bummer that didn’t work out.

4) The Crisis

Your parents have stressed to you to take care of all financial/school prep and keep them in the loop. Whatever it is, something slipped through the cracks and now you got your parents yelling at you early in the morning over this crisis.

“Why didn’t you stay on top of this?!”

“You need to pay attention to this stuff!”

For someone who checks his email as often as Bill Murray checks his phone number for movie offers (a few times a year according to popular myth) I miss some important stuff…….

5) It’s All Good Now! (It's Not Though....)

Crisis averted – it’s totally time to get ready for school. You’ll totally be ready by that fateful day in August. You’re not a newbie to college anymore. You know how to pack so there’s no need to worry about it. Time to have fun before you go back and say goodbye to all your friends. No matter how much time or money that consumes….

6) T-Minus One Day: What The Hell Are You Doing?!?! (The Lingering Panic Sets In!)

You have one day left of summer. But you forgot one big thing about going back to school. You’ve completely held off packing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You’ve left it completely ambiguous how little you’ve done to prep for school to your parents so you’re in this all alone. How are you gonna do this?!!!! You dig through your laundry and there’s no way you’ll get it done. You have no idea what to bring. You might have bought a bunch of new stuff, but you have no way to contain it for an epic car ride. It’s just scattered all over. How did you let it get to this point? Why must you always do this to yourself? What even is your major? These are some of the thoughts that will ricochet through your brain as you try to salvage this disaster you’ve created for yourself. How many notebooks do you need? Are binders even a thing in college? Sleep is for the weak anyway.

7.) Morning Of Move-In Day: It’s Over

Your annoying alarm has never been so loud. You packed somehow by some miracle. Maybe you just finally did it. Maybe your parents came in clutch and essentially packed everything for you. You have no idea how this semester is going to be and you don’t care. You’re just excited a new adventure has begun. If there is any moral to this story/timeline thing we’ve got going on it’s that you need to not panic, but most certainly be more on top of school matters over the summer. Think about your major and explore new possible opportunities that could benefit you in the future. Relax and have fun, but be mindful and try to learn and grow more. And don't hold things off until the last minute!