Most students will be going home for the holidays, but what about those of us who have been home long before the winter break? In a way, we’ve already been through the initial excitement of being at home, and have now run into monotony in our daily lives. How do we assure that this break doesn’t become a repeat of all our the previous months? Below, you’ll find a few ways to get into the holiday spirit, safely, of course.

CHANGE YOUR ROOM LAYOUT

We’ve been in quarantine so long, I’m sure we’re sick of seeing our same old room layout. We often don’t need new furniture to make our room look brand new, moving furniture around is enough to make you feel like you’re waking up to a refreshing environment. If you’ve had the same furniture placement since March, changing it up may help you get out of the monotony of everyday life. If you’re feeling too cluttered or overwhelmed, you can donate some of your belongings to places like Goodwill, or better yet, directly to people in need. Be sure to sanitize any donations you give.

DECORATE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

If you celebrate the holidays, it’s never too early to begin decorating. Christmas trees and indoor lights are already available in stores; don’t let anyone rain on your holiday parade. Thissuggestion could work well in tangent with changing your room layout: clear out some space for a Christmas tree or any other decoration you have in mind. Waking up to a newly decorated room will put you in a cheerful mood, no doubt. Something as simple as adding festive lights around your door can help distinguish these winter months.

DEVELOP A DAILY ROUTINE

By now, if you haven’t developed a daily routine, every day can feel empty and boring. When people suggest making daily routines, they often suggest developing some extravagant schedule that will magically help you get your life together. From one day to the next, you’re supposed to turn your life around and abide by a set of routines you’ve never abided by before. By making an elaborate schedule for the next day, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.

So how do we develop a routine without overwhelming ourselves? It’s simple. Set one or two goals to stick to for a week, and for the rest of the day, do what you would usually do. Adding one or two routines, from one day to the next, is manageable and realistic. It’ll help you cement a part of your day, and as time passes, you can add another action into your day and so on.

COMMIT TO YOUR HAPPINESS

With the presidential election still in the headlines, these last few weeks have been stressful beyond compare. Many prepared a solid plan for election week, including cooking meals for theweek, turning off the news after a certain hour, and checking in with friends and their well-being. It seemed people, including me, were really intentional about taking care of themselves. It got me thinking, what if I started being more intentional about my well-being more often. Why am I only allowing myself to be cared for one week out of the whole year?

BE SURE THE HOLIDAYS ARE JUST THAT, HOLIDAYS

After news that our spring break week was canceled, and instead the days sprinkled throughout the semester, many were concerned that those days off would become yet another work day, instead of a break. Be sure that this year’s holidays are just that, holidays. We’ve endured such a difficult year, and we deserve many, many days off to be with ourselves and relax.