Why You Should Go Home For Spring Break And Get Sh*t Done

I appreciate a beach vacation as much as the next girl, but I appreciate being a total boss even more. This year, I decided to do a staycation for spring break so I could maximize my free time. I’m definitely still getting plenty of me-time (laying out in the sun drinking sweet tea on the beach in my hometown), but I’m also doing a few things to make sure I go back to school both refreshed and smarter.

I think this is kind of the best of both worlds. By doing a staycation and reconnecting with the best things your hometown has to offer during your spring break, you also leave room to do some self-betterment exercises rather than just passing out drunk with a sunburn on a discount cruise line.

Here’s some things I’m using my spring break for, that give me a little more sense of accomplishment than the typical spring break fare:

1.) Decluttering. Since I’m spending spring break at home with the family, I’m back in my old bedroom which is full of clutter. Stressful, possibly important clutter. I have a tendency to receive mail and leave it in piles regardless of the fact that some of it may actually be relevant to me. By spending about an hour going through these piles today, I realized that going through my snail mail is actually pretty useful, especially because I don’t spend nearly enough time examining my finances. I never really look at my bank statements. This is a problem. Taking the time to really look through that clutter pile helped me look deeper into my spending patterns and realize where I was losing money. And any self-respecting boss hopeful needs to know where his/her money is going.

2.) Reading. I love to read, but I don’t get nearly enough time for pleasure reading during the school year because I’m busy doing assignments. Yet there’s so many great self-improvement books, career advice stuff, and memoirs that I’ve been wanting to read. In the past, I’ve tried to bring these types of books with me on vacations but they just don’t get read unless I’m stuck in the airport. Being at home, however, made it a lot easier for me to focus. I spent a whole day hanging out in Barnes and Noble with Tina Fey and I didn’t feel an ounce of FOMO. I just felt relaxed and a little smarter.

3.) Unplugging. I love being a creative person and doing creative things. My ultimate dream is to be a Chief Creative Officer, so indulging in creative endeavors on a regular basis is pretty important to me. Of course, I think creative pursuits should be important to absolutely everyone, regardless of natural creative talent. Doing things like making music, making art, writing, designing, etc, is so nurturing for the soul and it’s a natural human impulse. Let it free! Distractions, even fun ones like going on big vacations, can make it harder to get in tune with your own creative spirit, so taking advantage of spring break as a creative workshop has been really good for me so far. Every day, I’ve unplugged my phone and other electronics for a minimum of 2 hours to just let myself think and be inspired. It’s given me a lot of great energy to do things I haven’t done in a long time like painting and writing prose.

I think going back to school with a better control of my finances, a few new art pieces, and some finished books is a pretty nice prize for spending my spring break at home. What do you think you can get done?

This post originally appeared on brainbrawnbeautie.wordpress.com

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