Final semester exams done and the long vacation begins…!!!
(After 2 weeks or so)
Friend: Hey dude, wassup these days?
You: Hi! What are doing in your vacation? Any news about your joining date in XYZ company?
For those of you who are really bored right now, just try copy-pasting any one of the above conversations in your favorite messaging app chat search and you’ll probably be surprised with the number of results that come up. A low search result count might indicate that you are really busy with something or even might mean that you have already told everyone about your vacation plans so that no one bothers to ask you about it. If you are one of those who get a high count then one thing I can guarantee you is that reading the remaining part of this post would certainly help you in utilizing your time in a much better way! 😄
Being an engineer, I know what it means to spend four long years in one college, writing assignments, preparing for vivas and most importantly coping with the stress when submission dates are fast approaching. I won’t go into details about this "engineering" life as that isn’t what I want to convey through this post. The question arises, “What after engineering?”. You have managed to survive those four years, cope up with the stress, pass out with flying colours but then why is it that these long vacations turn you into an idle and lethargic individual. The reasons are many but I believe that you need to keep yourself active both physically and mentally now-a-days in order to compete with the rat-race outside.
HOBBY! This five-letter word is slowly losing its importance. How would you justify the fact that once as school kids we might have written short essays on the topic “My favourite hobby” and today when we have the time to follow it we often ponder, "Do I really have a hobby?" 🤔
Very few think of turning their passion or their hobby into a full time business. Hobbies have started to become mere assignments that we just write about and then forget. So my humble request to everyone is to start following your hobby and it will definitely help you kill the idle time during such vacations.
It is also possible that you might not have a hobby from the beginning. It’s fine. It can be developed. But if you are one of those couch potatoes who loves sitting in front of the television or computer screen, opening up tabs for Facebook, Twitter etc. checking out what’s going on in your social network then I am afraid you’ll only succeed in increasing your eye power and fail in doing something constructive. Physical activity becomes a must here. Try and get yourself enrolled at a health club or a gym and spend time doing exercises. Meditation and yoga could also prove beneficial. Here, I would like to share that I too was once a couch potato but listening to my parent’s advice helped me come out of it. So thank you Mom and Dad! 😄 🙏
By now, you might think I am bit cynical. Haha! Not really 😆 I know that in every dark cloud there is a silver lining and as a matter of fact there are quite a number of creative and innovative people out there who you just don’t need to tell how to spend their idle time during a vacation. Here, I would like to mention about a close friend of mine. He was the one who persuaded me to buy my first Android smartphone and to start developing for it. He is one of those guys who always came up with these weird, wacky yet innovative ideas that if one could implement successfully, would eventually turn out to be a money making machine. So please just try to be creative in whatever way you can and I am certain you will succeed in killing the idle time you encounter during vacations.
From couch potatoes to innovators, are we done yet? No! We have forgotten that there are certain people who are always mistaken to be Geeks 🤓. They have a hunger to learn and try to get maximum knowledge out of a particular thing; their hunger for learning never dies. Sometimes, they encounter success and sometimes despair. However, this doesn’t stop them from doing what they do. If you are one those then perhaps you’ll be successful in killing your idle time nine out of ten times. If you are interested in learning programming languages, you could always try enrolling for a specific language course. If you have already familiar with one, you could possible do an internship to get a more practical experience. All these are just alternatives but it’s up to you to decide what’s going to be your source of learning.
I must confess that it’s difficult for me to spend even a day without my family and my close friends. Imagine those who spend four years. The sight of a boy or a girl leaving their hometown to fulfil his/her dream and pursue a dream career is common when we think about such small town wonders. They learn to live the hard way. However, at some point in time boredom does manage to sneak into their lives. In such situations, spending time with your family and friends is a good solution. Here I am not asking you to adopt a sedentary lifestyle instead I want you to kill your idle time by narrating incidents, moments you spent while you were away to your parents and grandparents or perhaps even pen them down somewhere. Take photographs, send postcards and try to collect more memories.
Remember that time and tide waits for no man. While this could perhaps be your last de-stressful vacation, you ought to make the best of it, free of boredom and laziness as many you might be stepping into the corporate world soon! 🏢
Get busy. Get Going