I would make the argument that the older you get, the more pressure that is placed on spring break. When you’re in middle school, it really doesn’t matter because not many people go anywhere since there is no freedom to go and do what you want. There are always those few people that are able to go on a nice vacation with their family, but it’s rare, and most of us just sit at home and stay up late for four days. However, in all the high school movies that contain a spring break, it’s a huge deal. Everyone is talking about how they’re traveling out of state, most likely to a beach, to have the best week ever.
So when you’re me, and you’re in high school, you just sit there thinking about how it feels weird that you’re just at home staying up late for four days for the millionth spring break in a row. Some of your friends start to do more, like go to really nice beaches in the Bahamas or go visit family in fun states (which is literally any state other than Illinois). Then there’s you. You can’t go anywhere because your younger sisters are both also in school and all the spring breaks are at different times, which really limits what you can do as a family for break.
Imagine how I felt when my first college spring break consisted of me sitting at home and staying up late for four days because my younger sisters had a different spring break than me. It was upsetting, to be honest, because then I’m watching a ton of people go all over the place to do fun things. There were people at lakes, Downtown Chicago, various beaches, going to cabins, etc. I was discouraged because I wanted to be able to do fun things with my week off from school, but my family was all at school or work and there wasn’t much to do around the house to entertain myself, especially since a lot of my friends also had a different break than me.
This unspoken pressure was placed upon me as a young child that spring break is expected to be a fun way to bring in the warm weather with people that mean a lot to you, as you do nothing but enjoy the week off of school. However, I cannot recall a single spring break where I was doing the most to enjoy it. Usually I’ll only do one or two fun things, and spend the rest of the break doing nothing. It can be a lot of fun to do nothing as you get to college since there is a constant flow of things to do during the year. It can also be a lot of fun to go out and do things for a week, though.
The expectation that I placed on spring break really hurt my ability to enjoy it. I could be completely alone in this, which is fine, but I really wish I would just look at spring break the same way I look at long weekends. It’s just a short break to get myself back on track for the rest of the semester until the next break. Being that I’ve spent my spring breaks wishing I was somewhere else, I am trying to rebuild my potential for enjoying it.
This year, I pledged to myself that I will enjoy my spring break regardless of what is, or isn’t, done. I know a lot of my friends are going to be doing really fun things, and I’m going to make sure that I also do, even if it’s just staying up for four days.