Summer is here! Finals are over! Summer break has begun for many college students. This can be a precious time of year for many students looking for a break from academic stress and the busyness of student life. In my experience working with college students, summer break is a season of possibility; not just for rest, but for personal growth. Some students pack their summers with internships, jobs, or classes to round out their resumes. Others look forward to three months of napping and spending time with friends in their hometowns. Regardless of their plans however, students often feel a “crash” in their energy after finals.

The Crash After Finals is Normal!

The academic year can often feel relentless. After nine months of classes, assignments, and exams, it’s understandable that students’ bodies and minds need to rest. Along with academic stress, students might still be trying to understand what happened over the last academic year. 

College Is About More Than Academics 

College isn’t just stressful because of the classes. Social situations, learning to live on your own, managing your own schedule, and learning how to navigate the world as a young adult all add to what can make college so stressful and impactful. 

For some, needing to focus on the next task ahead during the school year can mean putting off doing some deeper thinking and processing around these other areas of growth. If you’re just working towards the next deadline, you don’t always have the time or mental energy to parse out what feels important about your experiences. Conversely, life might interfere with your ability to focus on your coursework – suddenly you feel like the year has passed by without getting what you wanted out of it. 

What Parents Often Notice When Students Come Home

For parents of college students, it might feel like you only got to hear snippets of what your child went through over the year. You’re amazed to see how much they are growing and changing at college, but you may also be aware of areas of life that need attending to or places of challenge around which your child may need extra support from other thoughtful adults..

Summer Creates Space for Reflection

Space, time and a slower pace allow for and even invite reflection. The summer break presents a unique opportunity for this. When I’ve worked with college students in the past, I would often encourage them to continue therapy over the summer not only to continue the work we had done during the year, but also to reflect on their growth and their challenges during a time when they have a little more room to breathe, and therefore, a different perspective. 

Therapy at a Different Pace

Connecting with a therapist without school in the way gives students an opportunity to engage with therapy at a different pace. They might not need to focus on current stressors and therapy can go beyond how to manage symptoms to understand how they’ve come to be. Being in a comfortable and familiar environment might make it easier to access feelings you might otherwise brush aside to attend to more “pressing” responsibilities. For young adults who tend to feel anxious during the year, taking therapy at a slower pace can give them time to truly understand themselves and what they’re capable of. For example, if you struggled with loneliness during your first year, you might finally have time to understand why forming friendships felt difficult.

Or, if the year was challenging and you found yourself struggling to stay afloat, having therapy over the summer can provide a low-stress environment to plan for the year ahead. For instance, if you procrastinated throughout the year, you may discover that anxiety—not laziness—was driving your avoidance. When you’re not feeling like you’re constantly putting out fires, your mind has more space to understand what you were really struggling with. Taking time to understand if it was having a hard time motivating yourself during the year, balancing school and needing to take care of yourself, or managing difficult social situations (or some combination of all three) will help you be able to anticipate those hurdles in the future. 

Preparing for the Year Ahead

Summer break is, of course, meant for rest and relaxation. It can also be a good time to take advantage of the slower pace of life and reflect. Setting up a “home” therapist can be a good strategy to continue the work that you might have started already. If you’re new to therapy, starting during the summer can give you more time to try something new. Having the time to engage in therapy at a slower pace will allow you to have a better understanding of yourself and better anticipate challenges in the months ahead. 

Growth is not magical. It is not just experience that teaches us, but reflection on that experience that broadens our understanding, deepens our sense of ourselves and our needs, builds compassion for other people, and contributes to us becoming more of who we want to be in the world.

Reach out to us at Resilience Restored Psychotherapy. Whether you’re a college student looking to better understand yourself or a parent hoping to support your child during an important period of growth, we’d be happy to speak with you and explore whether therapy might be helpful.