Well, hello there, beautiful people! Last week was the start my first official week of Winter Break from school so I spent the week doing absolutely nothing with simple, carefree bliss. It felt great to have no obligations for a week, but I'm not a person who can sit at home for an entire month and do nothing. Though the idea of bumming it for a month does seem inviting after a long semester, it's actually quite boring. As I've learned from past years, if I'm not productive over break, I'm going to end up staying at home, not doing my hair, eating all the food in the house and then sulking in the fact that I'm gaining weight because of all the unnecessary food I've been eating. I refuse to let that happen again this year and for that reason, I'm here to give you guys a few tips on how to stay productive during the "chill & lazy" times of the year.

Wake up earlier. 
I don't mean to wake up as early as you would if you were in school because there's no way I'm waking up before 7AM (which is about the time I woke up to go to classes this past semester). I'm not saying that you have to wake up early every single day, either. The point of having such a long break during the year is to rest up for next semester, so catching up on sleep isn't a bad thing at all. However, waking up just a little bit earlier, in my opinion, is the first step in becoming more productive. Even if you don't have much planned for the day, waking up earlier is incredibly beneficial. You'll be surprised what you can do with the extra time. Need time to finally do one of those DIY projects you saw on Pinterest? Now's the time to get started.

Keep a routine or have something to look forward to every day. 
Even though you're not in school, try to come up with a routine for yourself to keep you from becoming the unproductive college student. Now is the time to start working on all those little side projects you've been wanting to do, but never had the time to (including that Pinterest DIY, which I keep bringing up because I've been putting one off). For example, one of my goals is to consistently find ways to improve my blog. I also plan on finally learning how to play the guitar I got for Christmas a couple of years ago. I don't have a lot of time to do these things during the school year, but because I have nothing else to do over break, why wait?

Get out of the house. 
This one is really hard for me because I love my bed and the comfort of my own home, but it's fun to get out of your house every once in a while! Last week, my cousin and I went to go see Exodus: Gods  and Kings and the idea came completely out of nowhere. But I'm glad I went because I don't think I would have seen that movie if I hadn't already been out of the house and had been asked to go. And this week, I'm going to a family member's house to help put up Christmas decorations, which is something I normally wouldn't want to do because it sounds like work, but I'm actually excited to do it now. But don't get me wrong; I live in the Midwest, so I understand that sometimes, this weather makes the streets so bad that you can't even pull out your driveway. If this is the case, that's perfectly fine. The whole point of this tip is simple: just don't stay in bed all day every day.

               I know it's hard to keep yourself busy when it's so easy to fall back and do nothing, but I hope this helps. Comment below and let me know how you guys are staying productive!

Happy Holidays
With love from your girl,
Shatece