We’re on the runway.
Like Gatsby’s green light, spring break has sat out of our reach for weeks while we waited and pretended to give a damn about our classes.
Finally, we’re on our way, ready to take off and fly a mile high and miles away. And this short week of classes is only pretense. A formality.
But while everyone is force-feeding themselves diet food and honing their beach bodies, I encourage you to reconsider your spring break traditions.
It seems the standard treatment is for students to leave their class work wounded and deflated only to finish the job elsewhere, expending the energy reserves needed to finish the semester.
We’re currently stuck in the semesterly slump of apathy and lethargy, the dead zone between midterms and finals, and classwork feels as dismissible as our collective patience.
Daily routines are blinding, but drama paired with the stress to impress is no prescription for scholastic listlessness.
A year ago, I made one of the best decisions of my life: Instead of renting a house on the beach and drinking Natty while scorching my ginger likeness for a week, I escaped cell reception in a cabin in Gunnison, Colo.
I hadn’t realized options existed other than the Great Louisiana Exodus to Gulf Shores and Florida.
While it’s hard for a redhead to remain objective when discussing beaches, the benefits of escaping rather than partaking became evident as soon as our truck crossed Louisiana’s border.
As fantastic as getting hammered for a week sounds – and it does sound fantastic – it pays off to find a more efficient means of clearing one’s head and reassessing one’s priorities.
A healthy dose of detachment can go a long way. With the proper setting you’ll find the most important aspect of spring break: productive laziness.
Isolation from society with unusable cell phones, a few friends, fish to grill and enough supplies to sedate a herd of cattle has worked for me in the past, and it provides the perfect ingredients for debauchery and deep thought – both of which I find necessary to finish the semester.
And it leaves you returning to the real world with the clear, focused head which follows a good trip.
Keep your options open as our week off approaches. Think about what you – and your mind – need to start caring about school again when you return.
Survive this short week and enter the break knowing what it’s there for.
And bring your head along with you so you don’t forget where you left it upon returning.
Clayton Crockett is a 20-year-old international studies sophomore from Lafayette. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_ccrockett.
 
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Contact Clayton Crockett at [email protected]