For high school students and graduating seniors, summer offers a break from all the hassle of schoolwork and a chance to enjoy time with friends and family. While socializing is fun and can be relaxing, summer break is also an opportunity to really develop into a better person. During the summer, there are ample opportunities to engage in new activities and plan for the future, and there’s no reason not to take this opportunity.
While activities like video games and partying can lead to short-term joy, there are plenty of other summer activities that can lead to long-term happiness. Building up social networks can contribute greatly to your happiness. Research done by Stanford clearly correlates strong relationships with long-lasting happiness and improvements in overall health. Seeking people out in life to bond with can be one of the most beneficial things you can do. Try meeting with a friend one-on-one whom you normally only see in groups, text an old friend and try to catch up. Whenever life gives you an opportunity to connect with others, take it.
Long-term happiness can also result from joining groups with others who engage in your interests. Joining a volunteer organization or a club can help you meet new people who could someday be good friends. For students moving on to college, most universities have directories where you can find organizations to research and join. If you’re staying at high school, a list of all curricular and non-curricular organizations can be found on the school website. More so than clubs, volunteering lets you feel more complete as a person. According to an article by Forbes, volunteering can be beneficial to your overall sense of joy, fulfillment, sense of purpose and self-confidence. Volunteering makes the world a better place and gives you satisfaction, so seeking out opportunities to volunteer for a cause or group you support is a great way to make the most of your summer.
Establishing daily habits and routines can help you improve yourself as well. Having set times to get to bed and wake up most nights, incorporating even small workouts and scheduling time to make plans every day are all small habits that can have major benefits. Daily routines become habits, and habits allow you to make personal growth with much less effort. According to Northwestern Medicine, effective daily routines can minimize stress and reinforce healthy eating, sleeping and exercise habits. The National Institute of Health claims that falling out of daily eating and activity habits established by school directly causes many students to experience undesired weight gain over the summer. Overall, structuring your life is key to ensuring a consistently happy and well-managed future, and the free summers of youth are the perfect time to establish this structure.
For students who enjoy learning or feel disappointed by desired subjects lacking from their curriculum, the summer is a great time to learn on your own time. There is an abundance of online resources that are far cheaper than physical textbooks. Getting a head start on next year’s classes can help you feel much more prepared for school and make the process far easier. Pursuing knowledge of something that interests you can be incredibly rewarding. Doing either a short deep dive into a subject you’ve wondered about or seeking a solid understanding of an entire field are both ways you can build upon your understanding of the world. Coming up with a list of thoughts and looking into them is a worthwhile endeavor for students with free time over the summer.
No matter what you choose to do, there are many ways in which you can work on making yourself better over the summer. Whether you choose to build up social networks, find an organization, work on your habits, or learn about the world around you, self-improvement is always a worthwhile endeavor with many rewards. This summer, push your boundaries and set realistic goals for who you can see yourself being.
