What to do when you're too bored to bother

Surviving the Summer Slump

Diagnosing the Summer Slump

Ever since I was old enough to be in school, I’ve looked forward to that glorious time of year when the last bell rings and I’m finally free. Now, as a teacher, I feel the same yearly excitement. The freedom to kick back and do absolutely nothing has arrived.

Summer Slump
For me, classes don’t start until October. Wake me up when September ends 🙂

But then something inevitably happens partway through the summer. That something is called the Summer Slump. According to Urban Dictionary, the Summer Slump is “A period during summer in which a person performs inefficiently due to the excessive amount of free time on there hands.”

The truth is, an abundance of free time can become overwhelming. Maybe there’s nothing you specifically have to do, so you don’t feel bad bingeing on your favorite television programs. That’s fine. I feed my addiction through ORORO TV (Note: if you subscribe through my link, you and I will both receive a discount). But when you come up for air, you often find yourself feeling disoriented, and maybe even a little unmotivated to do anything about it.

When you find yourself slipping into the Slump, and you’re so bored that you can’t even bother to do anything about it, it’s good to have a plan in place to pull you back out. Here’s my plan:

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Love Where You Live

Love Where You Live

Do you love where you live? A lot of people don’t, and that is why they travel. They’re trying to find whatever is missing back home. Unfortunately, what is missing isn’t always external. I am now a huge proponent of slow travel, but I haven’t always been. I’ve still got  these big goals to see the world, and a scratch off map that sits beside my bed, but I’m no longer in a hurry. Because I love where I live.

see the world: love where you live
OK, maybe not THAT big.

 

One of the first travel goals I set for myself when I decided to move to Spain was to visit every province in the country. There are 50. To date, I have seen 18, but don’t let me fool you. I had a head start. You see, when I studied abroad in Santander in 2009, I had already crammed 7 of them into a 2 month period. The other 11 have been over a year and a half. Which visits do you think have been more meaningful?

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