Prioritizing your work before the weather brings you outside

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Graphic by Kash Patel

This article is your formal warning.ย 

You should be proud of yourself. Youโ€™ve almost made it through the cold grip of yet another Canadian winter, with the sun starting to peak its little head out from the heavens and melt away the snow.ย 

Itโ€™s almost time to โ€œyeetโ€ your coat to the back of the closet and throw on that spring jacket.ย 

Your forearms are soon to be toasted in the warmth of the sunlight, a feeling that youโ€™ve forgotten existed.

And whatโ€™s this? Summer plans are finally being made! Your friends are emerging from their winter hibernations to offer promises of cottage trips, camping weekends and bonfires. Youโ€™re thirsting for these plans as if theyโ€™re cool drops of rain and youโ€™ve been trapped in the desert for days.

You need to indulge these summer plans.ย 

After all, youโ€™ve worked hard all winter. The last few months were spent shacked up in your room under 35 pounds of blankets with your frozen, boney finger being the only bare skin exposed as it followed along the words of your textbook while you crammed what you could before that upcoming midterm.

โ€œItโ€™s almost hereโ€ you whispered aloud, your breath visible even in your room. โ€œSummer is coming.โ€

Wrong.ย Iโ€™m here to set you straight, friend. Summer isnโ€™t here yet.

I know what itโ€™s like to indulge in the fantasies of the coming summer months.ย 

Sometimes having something to look forward to is whatโ€™s needed to get through a tough time.ย 

But at this point in the year when school burnout is most prominent, these dreams make getting your stuff done much more difficult. Thatโ€™s why you need to start your school work right now.

Summers on its way, but we still have many speed-bumps to break before we get to enjoy it. If you donโ€™t heed this warning, think back to this article as you head to the library to study in mid-April.

You canโ€™t waste any more time. The pre-summer final exam burnout makes the pre-Christmas final exams look like elementary school.

You see, as the weather gets warmer, the difficulty of cracking open a textbook or starting a final essay becomes exponentially higher.ย 

Yet right now, thereโ€™s still snow on the ground. Going outside is highly discouraging. You canโ€™t even take a three-minute walk to 7-Elevenย  without doing the splits once or twice on those icy sidewalks. Thus, itโ€™s easy to shut your blinds and get back to work โ€“ the choice between smacking your back off the frozen sidewalks of Ontario or staying inside with a textbook and a hot coffee is an easy one to make.

However, soon enough the birds will be chirping and the sidewalks will have an abundance of friction. The people of Waterloo will come out of their hiding places and the outdoors will be alive again, calling on you to join them in their cries of rejoicing at the beautiful and temporary warm Canadian weather.ย 

How can you stay inside on a sunny April day?

Itโ€™s going to be tough when youโ€™re forgoing precious days of the best season to do work you couldโ€™ve done when the outdoors were miserable.ย 

Youโ€™re not missing anything out there in early March, so make the most of it and get your studying, final essays or presentations finished now.

We procrastinators need to buckle down this year and avoid the painful burnout that inevitably comes with the end of second semester.

Summers on its way, but we still have many speed-bumps to break before we get to enjoy it. If you donโ€™t heed this warning, think back to this article as you head to the library to study in mid-April.ย 

Hell, to be honest, Iโ€™ll probably be right there suffering with you.


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Serving the Waterloo campus, The Cord seeks to provide students with relevant, up to date stories. Weโ€™re always interested in having more volunteer writers, photographers and graphic designers.