If you have a Twitter, you know that people are absolutely wylin’ in Miami. And maybe you have your out-of-pocket Spring Break plans lined up and ready to go. You just finished finals and now you feel like a huge weight has been lifted off your shoulders. You handed the TA your last final, put one middle finger to the sky, and ran out the door with glee. You did it! You’re so happy, you come back home ready to get the break started – but for some reason, it’s like something is wrong. You’re not completely comfortable right now – it’s as if something is around the corner and you have to keep your guard up and stay on your toes.

If you’re anything like me, then you’ve had this experience before. You’ve been in survival mode so long that you forgot how to not do anything. Sitting down and doing nothing feels like sin, and you become anxious while trying to find some way to be productive. If this is something you deal with, I would like to offer a remedy:

First, know that the amount of work you complete in one day does not have to dictate how you feel about yourself. You are not the work you accomplish. You are a complete human being when you wake up in the morning – before you have completed any task. There have been many times where I’ve woken up in the morning and immediately became stressed out because of everything I needed to do. And on top of that, I wouldn’t feel like Emmanuel until I did the tasks. Why in the world should anyone be okay with waking up every morning stressed out? Let’s just put it like this, that is not the un-associated lifestyle.

Second, know that your life is more than just being a student. Being a student is only a part of your life. You are also a son, daughter, brother, sister, cousin, niece or nephew – and the list goes on. Be mindful of the way you are defining yourself as a human being. If you define yourself as a student, how do you expect to feel complete and fulfilled when you graduate or go on break? I think one of my coolest quotes is this: “Who you are is eternal, and eternal beings cannot identify themselves as temporary things.”

If you suffer from what I like to call “Post-finals Anxiety”, remember what has been said in this editorial. You are more than a student. You are complete even when you have a list of uncompleted tasks. Take this Spring Break period to turn your focus on the part of your life that has nothing to do with school. If you aren’t familiar with another part of your life – then this would be a great time to discover one! Find a new hobby, try something new! Go crazy…ahhhhh…go stupid! Whatever you do this break, make sure that you don’t let this break pass you by while you’re anxious about school. You don’t have time for that! Best of luck.