Summertime rest: a defense on a carefree summer break

Elisabeth Pointer is a second-year genetics major and writes 'Peer Reviewed' for the Daily News. Her views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper. For college students, summers are often prime time for real-world experience. Internships, doing research or finding other summer employment are ways people can be productive during the long break. But that is not the reality for every student. According to an April 2026 article by Next Gen Personal Finance, about 53.1 percent of people ranging from ages 16-21 held summer jobs in July 2025. But where does that leave the other 46.9 percent of people? The reason for this cannot just be simplified to laziness. There are a multitude of reasons, such as too much competition, insufficient experience, mental burnout and fatigue or having to help support their families back home. The list could go on and on. In my experience, my summer was uneventful due to an intense hip surgery. I had a labral reconstruction in May, which left me practically immobile for a large part of the break. Standing for too long caused pain, but so did sitting for too long. I was stuck lying in my bed focusing on healing. When I was finally cleared to look for some kind of employment, we only had a few weeks left of the break, which was much too short for anyone to consider hiring me. While I was able to spend a few days job shadowing in hopes of beefing up my application to grad school, that was a mere two days out of the entire four-month break I spent feeling 'productive.' Another thing I heard from some of my peers who were actively trying to find something to do for the summer was about the overall difficulty of finding a job. According to a June 2026 article by Marketplace, multiple teens were ghosted by the establishments they applied to. Furthermore, overall hiring has gone down 13 percent compared to last year. At some point, it is easy to become discouraged or even give up if there seems to be nothing available. Rejection from a local summer job is not the only thing encouraging a lackluster summer experience, but according to a March 2026 article by Forbes, 8.2 million college students applied to internships last year, and only 3.6 million actually got one. That is less than half. While my specific reason for a laidback summer may be unique, the experience itself is not. I have spent this long, boring period of time feeling terrible about myself while my friends could actually do something, and I know I am not alone in that. It is very easy to compare yourself to your peers. Especially when it feels like they are often too busy to hang out, but you seem to have all the time in the world. Those long periods of quiet, isolation and feeling like you are falling behind can really start to take a toll on mental health. Evanston Counseling warns that the fear of missing out or too much unstructured time can lead to feelings of anxiety, restlessness and self-doubt. But the most important takeaway from that article is simply this: 'You don't need to earn rest, because rest is productive.' If summer did not go the way you planned or envisioned it, wallowing in negative feelings is no way to spend it. Trust me, I did my fair share of that, but a change of mindset can make the summer feel much less terrible. Looking back, the rest I got was much needed. As many do, I finished last semester mentally exhausted. I was very much looking forward to the chance to catch my breath and catch up on sleep once it was finally over, and I do not want to take that for granted. Of course, I spent way too much time on my phone scrolling, but I also got to crochet for the first time in months and see friends who I had not seen in a long time. I was able to watch movies I had been recommended, and I spent time soaking up the sun. If you feel like your summer was lacking in anything productive, that is untrue. You got a break, which is something we have all been guilty of taking for granted throughout the years. Soon we will not get a summer break. I hear way too often from the adults around me that they regret the amount of time they spent working their summers away because they do not get that time anymore. After school, the next step is work, and there are no scheduled breaks when you have a full time job. There is so much time left to work, the rest of your life, and so it is good to spend the few months of rest you have left to do exactly that, kick back and relax while you still have the opportunity. Just because a summer is not busy does not mean it is any less important. You will never get this time back. Even if your summer was anything like mine, that does not mean it was wasted at all. Do not compare yourself to others or put yourself in a box of 'this is what a college student is supposed to do' because everyone's experience is different and valuable. A small change in mindset is enough to make an uneventful summer still feel worth it. Rest is productive, and you deserve it. Contact Elisabeth Pointer via email at Elisabeth.pointer@bsu.edu.