Summer is over.
In case that didn’t hit you the first time, here it is again. Summer is over. It’s genuinely hard to believe that a whole two and a half months have passed since the last time we breathed the sweet Shalhevet air at 7:50 AM.
It’s very easy to get depressed about this. You promised yourself as you studied for finals at the end of June that you would not only learn to read and write in Russian this summer, but you would also bike to the beach every day, spend every waking moment with the friends you don’t hang out with during the year and master the musical saw (at least, that’s what I promised myself.)
But you end up biking most of the way to the beach once, glance at the Russian book you picked up from the library and discover that most of your friends are either at camp or enjoying fabulous vacations. Of course, some of us do accomplish serious goals during this 2 month stretch of absolute freedom but there are always things that take the backseat.
It’s no wonder, then, so many students get depressed when the end of summer hits them and realize that they haven’t accomplished half of what they wanted. But if you think about it, it’s really not depressing at all.
The chance to redefine yourself in high school wasn’t limited to freshman year; you can become a different student and a different person every September. As students, we are bombarded with tons of new things on the first day of school—teachers, classrooms, fellow students—and we are told to make of it what we will. Why not make it great?
If you hated physics, you may absolutely adore chemistry and end up tutoring your classmates. Maybe you’ll become best friends with a freshman whom you’d never seen in your life up to that point. And maybe instead of bemoaning how uncarpeted the Beit Midrash is, you’ll discover that it’s the perfect place to go sock-ice skating while waiting for after-school extra-circulars to begin.
So without sounding like a motivational speaker (if that can be at all helped), August 25 is only a sad day if you let it be. Make this year your best year of high school and don’t let the freshmen be the only ones enjoying themselves.
And, of course, you can always master the musical saw next summer.
Michelle • Aug 26, 2010 at 3:08 pm
I always get a bit sad at the end of summer… even though fall is my favorite season (because of the colors).
And about your musical saw obsession – did you see this in the news:
http://www.reuters.com/news/video/story?videoId=134547953&rpc=60
You should totally go to the musical saw festival in New York next summer!