Somehow, 2020 has felt the shortest and longest year of my life. While I truly can’t believe that it is already halfway through December, I also cannot wait until classes and finals are finally over. For a lot of us, being inside and spending our days staring at our computers has taken a toll on our mental state. For me, once midterms were over, I felt extremely burnt out and I lost a lot of motivation to put my all into the rest of the semester. It took a lot for me to get back on track and I tell you all this to say that it is okay to feel burnt out. This was something that seemed like a pretty universal thing no matter who I spoke to. What matters is how you can recharge while still being able to keep your grades up. Another lesson I learned this semester was that you don’t always have to put your 100% in 100% of the activities you are participating in or 100% of the classes you are taking. I talk more about this in my other blog post, “Holiday Blogging”. Check it out!
With the countdown to the end of the semester nearing closer to zero, I have started my list on what I would like to accomplish during this time off. This is something that I started doing more since being in lockdown because for me, it is a great combination of relaxing but also staying on top of things that make the transition of starting a new semester easier. It is pretty common to have trouble in the beginning of the semester, switching your mind from relaxing/ vacation mode to work mode. I found that being productive during breaks helps your mind stay in the middle of these two ends of the spectrum.
One of my main goals is to relax and spend some time with some close friends (safely and socially distanced of course). A lot of my high school friends are home for semester break and I am excited to catch up with them and just take some time for ourselves to enjoy the winter weather and the holiday season. Another main priority of mine is to apply to internships for the summer. A lot of bigger companies release applications for internships in the fall; however, smaller companies do so during the winter and spring. I have a goal to really utilize my LinkedIn profile to put myself out there and make myself an attractive applicant.
Some things that are on my list of tasks but do not have that high of a priority are creating a few websites and writing out a couple of lesson plans. As a computer science major, it is useful to have a few projects under my belt to showcase my abilities and skills as well as track my own progress. Over the summer, I took a Web Development course online and I have been enjoying creating and designing websites from scratch. I want to create my own website for branding reasons as well as create one for a friend of mine. I hope if all goes well, this could be something I can do on the side and make a few extra dollars and expand my portfolio. As for the lesson plans, I knew when I graduated high school, I wanted to give back in some way. My high school and the bonds I created with my adults in this school had been so influential which is sadly something that not many people can say coming from an NYC public school. When I started college and was introduced to Computer Science, I looked back and wished I had something that introduced me to this field sooner especially with the growing interest in it. For these reasons, I am hoping to implement some type of program for the current students in my high school and volunteer my time once a week and expose students to relevant topics. I think it would be extremely beneficial and show the school how serious I am if I created some lesson plans and pitch it to them and see what happens from there.
These are just a few of my personal goals and given that I have a shorter semester break than usual, I am okay if I don’t end up completing all these tasks. However, I am striving to at least make a decent amount of progress on them and simply just start them. I encourage you all to maybe do the same whether that be trying to spend more time with loved ones, preparing for the classes you may be taking in the spring or anything else you have been wanting to do. I am constantly reminded that this time we have right now is something that we will never get back. We are stuck at home for the most part and for this short amount of time, it feels like the entire world has slowed down. So why not make the most of it?
I wish you all the best. Stay safe and good luck!