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OPINION Spring fever is in the air

Spring has officially sprung. For many of us students, it means spring fever.

However, the kind of fever it inspires is not of the hearts-swooning, birds-chirping, love-is-in-the-air type variety.

It’s the kind of all-encompassing mental fever that comes with wrapping up your classes and being forced to either: a) figure out what to do over the summer, or the worse predicament; b) figure out what to do with the rest of your post-SAIT graduate life.

This time of year inspires some to greatness, and others to depression.

There’s the ‘spring is here, let’s get it all done’ type student, who upon realizing summer is approaching, sets about crossing off a to-do list that has piled up over the dark months.

This kind of person gets taxes done before April 1, has a summer or post-graduate job lined up to begin the last day of finals, and actually remembers to change winter tires before the end of May.

Then there’s the ‘I just came out of hibernation’ student, who looks in the mirror one fine day in April and realizes the issue is not with winter tires, but with the spare tire that’s suddenly appeared around his or her midsection.

The hibernator has treated winter as an extended period of inactivity, wherein the outdoors were avoided, constant doses of carbs were a logical food choice, and long periods of slumber were the norm.

When spring hits again, the hibernator furiously sets about trying to fit back into gym clothes and obtaining much-needed vitamin D from the nearest tanning bed.

Then there is the springtime existential crisis victim. This kind of student has had his or her nose to the grind for so long, spring came as a surprise. The arrival of nicer weather combined with the word April sends him or her back to bed in a fit of terror about the future.

These are springtime’s most affected fever victims, and they need a lot of encouragement.

If you encounter one of these types while you are conducting your seasonal rituals, please attempt to break the fever. Remind them life can be taken on one day at a time. Help them get out of their beds, celebrate the end of school and look forward to the sunny days ahead.

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