| Make your holiday break count |
Staying up late, sleeping in, resting, regrouping, and relaxing are probably on every student’s to-do list. A break from school, whether it be high school or college, is a great respite. By all means, enjoy the time off but once you have been able to sleep in and recover from final exams, what else will you do over the break?
Consider volunteering. Winter break is a great time to volunteer in your community and allows you a chance to give back. Start a quick on-line search and you will find many organizations in your area that will be glad to have your help – homeless shelters, food pantries, churches, nursing homes, retirement homes, hospitals, animal shelters. This doesn’t need to be a huge commitment as many of them have quick drop-in hours and they’d be glad to accommodate you. They will take any help you’d be willing to give. Grab a few friends and head over to help.
Organize a food drive/clothing drive/shoe drive/personal products/ or book drive. From the comfort of your own home, create a quick Facebook page or Twitter page asking friends and neighbors to consider donating. Make it easy on everyone, and ask them to leave items on the porch or in the garage and go pick up immediately. Load up your car or truck and contact a shelter or Goodwill or a church in your community to see how your donation can make a difference.
Create a neighborhood Christmas carol group. Go on-line and find the lyrics to common holiday songs, practice before you head out with your friends. Stop by neighborhood houses and sing to your heart’s content. Make it clear that you are not collecting donations but rather doing it just to spread good holiday spirit.
Try a few random acts of kindness. These don’t need to be big ideas just something simple that will make the recipient stop and smile. Things like letting a person cut you in line, buying a stranger in line their coffee or lunch, leaving a well-loved book somewhere for someone else to pick up, putting a sticky note up on a public bathroom mirror with a comment like “you are beautiful”, taking chalk and writing an inspirational message for someone to read, sending someone a card “just because”. The ideas are limitless.
Remember, no one can do everything but everyone can do something. So consider DOING SOMETHING over break and make those days count. Trust that whatever you give you will receive back a hundred-fold.