The smell of gingerbread cookies fresh out of the oven, boxes of perfectly wrapped gifts under the Christmas tree, a bowl full of candy canes sitting in the kitchen counter, yellow fairy lights decorating every tree in every street, waking up knowing you would have the whole day to spend with friends and family, new year resolutions and countdowns…

You remember all of that as you walk through the school doors on a cold monday morning, which had changed from a simple entrance to the building into a gate to reality. Suddenly, all the expectations you had towards the break are crushed, leaving you with the memories of the roller coaster of events that happened in the two week period called Winter Break.

Winter Break is the longest break that happens during the school year, and it is a chance for students to relax and enjoy being free from classwork, which could not be assigned during that time. 

“I was very excited to go on break,” sophomore Max Feinserg said. “I knew I would spend time with my friends and travel a lot, without having to think about school.”

After it ended, however, on Jan. 6, students were forced to pick up fast from where they had left off, because the end of the quarter stood barely three weeks away. The workload that was assigned on the first days was shocking to most students who had not had enough time to wrap their heads around coming back to school.

“I felt super tired during the whole first week back,” Feinserg said. “I feel like teachers didn’t realize we had just come back from two weeks off and piled up a ton of work.”

The sudden change of routine and the fact that the break has ended causes sadness and lack of motivation to many students who had to resume their regular activities, which had been mostly paused for the break. The phenomenon that came out of the emptiness feeling left after the break is popularly called “Post Winter-Break Depression.” 

This made most students feel unmotivated during the week, which seemed to go by slowly, as they picked up the rhythm of classes and got adjusted to doing homework and studying again, even after the snow day that happened on that week’s Wednesday. 

The bad feeling that comes with Post Winter-Break Depression, however, goes away fast, as students just have to get back into the school routine and happily remember the memories they made during the two week period, until they find another break to look forward to. 

“Being back to school is just a harsh realization that your break is over” Feinserg added. 

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