Last week I covered what seniors, who are finishing up college applications this month, might want to do with their winter break. Other high schoolers may not hav those particular deadlines looming, but they still get a break from school, and there are things they ought to consider doing over that break.

Rest. This sounds obvious--of course you're going to rest. You have several weeks with no school! But for lots of students--and adults--it never quite seems to work this way. You stay up too late, thinking you'll sleep in, and then you have to get up earlier than you expected. Or you spend too much time in bed or on the couch, and you feel sluggish and dumpy. You can only get good rest from your break if you decide that you're actually going to and schedule for it. Decide that you're going to get 8-10 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, and then plan accordingly. The time you spend awake will go much better if you do.

Spend quality time with people. Now is a great time to catch up with friends and family, but, like good sleep, quality time with people is also elusive. You go to gatherings (safe, socially distant gatherings!), you have text or Snapchat conversations, you spend a little time with people...and then you realize that you didn't really have any good conversations. Quality Time is usually thought of as time you spend with another person giving them your undivided attention. Schedule some time for this with a few good friends and/or family members.

Re-assess. Now is a great time for reflection and regrouping. Here are several exercises to try to keep that conversation with yourself productive and useful.

Highs and lows. Like a lot of families, at our dinner table we often go around and share our high and low moment of the day with each other. It's a better conversation starter with school-aged kids than "how was your day?" and it reinforces that every day has both the good and the bad. Take some time thinking about--and sharing with someone else--your high and low points over the fall semester and your college quest. What worked? What didn't? What felt good? What felt bad? Consider it all.

Three-month time machine. When evaluating your semester and planning ahead, think about a two-month time machine. If you could go back three months to re-try the fall, what's one thing you really wish you could change? You obviously can't really do it, but it's a good way to think about "lessons learned."

Restate your dreams and aspirations. Take some time and write a personal mission statement for the year, especially if you're a senior and moving on to college next fall. Or if you don't want to be so college-centric but want to spend time thinking about what's really important to you, try the "last-year test" method of thinking about New Year's Resolutions. 

Read. It's really tempting to read nothing--or nothing of merit--over the break. You've read so much over the past few months, so why do it on vacation? The answer is simple: now you get to choose what to read, and you can make engaging your intellect fun for yourself. Besides, if you're ready to concede that the only reason you read or learn is because you're assigned to by authorities, then you may want to re-think the whole college thing. Take back control of your mind by reading something. It doesn't have to be Important Literature if that's not what you like, just choose not to be a mental slacker.

Go on some virtual college tours. Practically every college who once had in-person campus tours now has tour videos, slide shows, and interactive features. Take advantage and go on some casual campus visits. Unlike with a live tour, you will feel zero pressure to be impressive or seem like you know what you’re doing. You can just visit. If you’ve got some schools in mind, then absolutely have a peek. But don’t wait until you know which schools you may apply to. I often encourage people to go on practice tours of local colleges, even if they have no interest in the college. I encourage you to do the same online. Just get a feel for what’s out there, and what different colleges are like. Look at a few large public universities, look at a few mid-sized research universities, look at some small liberal arts colleges, check out the nearest public university to your house. It’s interesting to see how they differ, but it’s also really useful to understand the ways in which they’re the same. Here’s a sample list of the sort of variety I mean: Penn State, RPI, Kenyon, and UPenn. Try those, or try a similar list in a different geographic region, or one tailored to a particular major. The point is to see a variety of colleges of different size and focus.

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