As painful as it may be, festival season 2016 is on its way out and for many frequenters of festivals, the academic season is about to begin.
Soon the camping gear and extravagant outfits will be traded in for textbooks as permanent residents in your car, and it might just be me but this school year seems like it came even faster than usual. Sign of a good summer I guess.
Unfortunately transferring one’s mindset from carefree to responsible is not the easiest task, and yet its something every festie reentering school this fall will have to do…including me. As I have gone through this transition several times before, I have found there are several tips to aid in shifting one’s focus from the sky and clouds to the classroom.
1. No Matter What.
The high created by a great festival season is a unique form of bliss. Sometimes you just happen to visit a top notch event with top notch talent and top notch vibes every other weekend. When this happens, it’s like those impeccable vibes are not only following you around, but emanating from your soul. It’s not something that anyone ever wants to end. The thing is though, even in sunny SoCal, it has to come to an end eventually. Sure we re blessed to have festivals happen steadily into late Fall, but eventually the festivals and other such outdoor gatherings will be done until the Spring. The earlier people accept that fact, the better off their studies will be.
2. One Last Blowout
Just because school is about to start doesn’t mean the season has to deflate like an old balloon. So whether it’s another festival, a club night, or maybe a nice dinner with your ride-or-die squad, send the season off in style and have a blast one more time before next year.
3. Look Your Bank Account Deep In The Eyes…..
……and give it a break. Festivals cost quite a bit of money, and most people reentering school aren’t overflowing with cash. This is not a time to feel bad about the money you spent all summer because you shouldn’t feel bad about that at all. However, in the interest of shifting ones mindset to that of responsibility, one can use the extra incentive of saving money as a motivator to focus on school. After all, having a nice nest egg before the season commences is always a good idea.
4. Memento (A Film By Christopher Nolan)
Letting go of a great festival season can be painful, but having mementos of the good times makes it much easier to deal with. Whether it’s something physical like pictures, videos, and wristbands or something metaphorical like a song you love that was played at the perfect moment, such things have the power open the memory floodgates and sweep your mind back in time. This might make you even more sad at first because the festival is gone, but remember the common phrase, “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” The best part is, it’s almost guaranteed that the festival you now miss so much will be back again next year.
5. Transformational…………Festivals
I personally have never liked using this term to classify festivals because it implies that some festivals have the power to change someone for the better while others don’t, but the important thing to take away from that is the fact that all festivals have that power. One of the best things about a great season is the newfound knowledge a person gains. If school has been nothing but a drag up until this point, maybe it’s time to take the refreshed point of view of the world and apply it to school.
6. Priorities
Everyone has their own path to follow. For some that involves school. For others it doesn’t. There are obviously people out there who have made these festivals their life’s work, and if someone wants to do the same that person should pursue that dream with every fiber of their being. The point is, if you’ve reached higher education where attendance is entirely by choice, and the thought of another semester of school makes you shiver in disgust, it might be time to reevaluate the decision to attend. I’m not trying to encourage anyone to drop out of school so they can attend another festival. In fact just the opposite.
I’m approaching my final year of college and so I know how it feels to be unsure of the decision to put yourself in debt for the sake of getting a diploma, but through all of that I’m glad I’m going to finish. Now that school is starting again, it’s important for anyone and everyone to figure out if it’s really important to them. If festivals have taught me anything it’s to be yourself and follow your heart. School is not required to do either of those things, but it sure can help.
