The holidays can be an intense time for many reasons, but for out-of-state college students on their first semester away from home, they can be especially hard, either with heavy travel fees or the harsh reality that most of us face: staying in one’s college dorm alone for an entire break. When I left for college in August I moved 1,500 miles away from everything I’d ever known and loved, changing time zones, cultures, and climates. And, since Christmas break is coming up two weeks after Thanksgiving, my family and I didn’t think that buying a plane ticket for Thanksgiving would be worth it. So I’ve spent around 80% of my time this Thanksgiving break sitting alone in my room, and trust me, when my friends heard about how I didn’t get to go home for the week they were upset for me, gave me lots of hugs, and offered me the hospitality of their own families for the week. But, contrary to many outside perceptions, I’ve been perfectly fine spending this week on my own. In fact, it’s been kind of peaceful.
First off, I have an off-campus job working in retail, so I’ve been able to get a couple of hours of socializing here and there. It’s not much, but it helped give me a break from complete solitude every so often. The other thing that’s been extremely helpful for me has been the fact that I’ve learned how to be comfortable being alone. Over the past few years, I’ve started to become independent in a lot of ways, and long stretches of time with no human interaction isn’t that difficult for me. I know that’s not the case for everyone though, and even I start to get bored after listening to the same playlists over and over and falling down YouTube holes of TED Talks and Jenna Marbles videos. So, just in case anyone out there ever finds themselves in a similar scenario, here’s a list of a few things that have helped me get through the quietest week I’ve had since move-in weekend:
-
First and foremost: self-care. Spending this much time by myself has allowed me to truly focus on doing the things I need to do to take better care of myself. I’ve been washing my face more, going to bed BEFORE 1am (shocking for college kids, I know), and I even went on a lovely run around campus. Even just taking a few hours to paint, write, listen to music, or catch up on my favorite shows has done wonders for my stress levels, since I now have the time to let myself breathe and stop panicking about my calculus homework for a few days.
-
GETTING GOOD SLEEP! This technically goes along with self-care, but it’s so important that I had to separate it. Without any morning classes or social obligations this week, I’ve been getting around 10-12 hours of sleep every night, and it’s severely helped my mental health. I feel like I’m finally rested enough to put in the work needed to pass all my finals, and it’s such an amazing feeling.
-
The fish I’m babysitting. My friend went back home this week and wasn’t able to take his pet Beta fish with him, so I got to be the lucky caretaker of a gorgeous aquatic friend named Douglas. He doesn’t do much, but it’s nice to have something to take care of and say hi to when I wake up in the morning. So if you have anyone with pet fish, I’d highly recommend offering to babysit, it might make you happy too. :)
-
The internet! I’ve still been able to keep in contact with all of my friends that went home to their families, as well as my own family and friends back home through text, call, FaceTime, and meme group chats, and it really helped to close the gap between “me time” and “loneliness” this week.
-
Christmas planning. I decided that, since I’m in college and money is tight, my Christmas presents to everyone this year are going to be tiny little canvases(which were only 96 cents each) that I paint for them individually. I have so many to do and they take up a solid amount of time, so this project has kept me pretty busy during the week. Even if you don’t want to give 30 away as gifts, however, I would still highly recommend grabbing a few tiny canvases from your local craft store and painting whatever your heart desires. You don’t even have to be a “painter.” Trust me, I have absolutely no artistic skills when it comes to painting, but somehow the fact that they’re on such small canvases somehow makes everything 10 times cuter than they actually are.
In the end, spending a holiday by yourself doesn’t have to be as depressing as everyone else makes it out to be. While I did get a little homesick for my mom’s cooking and petting my cats, I survived, and you can too. I hope this short list gives you a couple of ideas on how to spend your own holiday break away from home! May your budget dorm-decorations be festive, and your sleep schedule be blessed.