By Jake Zabski
At this point in the semester, many of us are burnt out. One reading day a month is not enough to provide a break from the physically and mentally exhaustive times that we’re in. What many of us need right now is at least a week of no work, no stress, and total relaxation. One thing that I’ve tried to keep up the entire school year is dedicating one day a weekend to exploring and adventuring off-campus to decompress. I’ve noticed that even though I’ve been spending my weekends doing these fun things and exploring what I can safely, I’ve been craving to go somewhere completely new. This turned into a spontaneous day trip that took me to somewhere I had never been and was the best break I’ve had thus far.
The trip came to fruition after I had noticed my mental health was starting to take a toll during midterms. Every day felt the same. It was a consistent schedule of waking up, working out, going to class, doing homework, going home, and maybe ending the day watching a show or TikTok. This routine really didn’t satisfy my needs, and I often found myself wishing for hours to go by so I could just move onto the next day. It was clear that my mind, body, and spirit were simply exhausted. Particularly now with Covid restrictions, my usual downtime activities are limited as I can’t visit my friends outside of my dorm, or really do anything with people in a large setting. Instead of wishing I was in better circumstances, I decided to shift my entire mindset. Enough is enough, and I decided that I was going to start doing what I wanted to do and what would make me feel happy instead of pushing my happiness away.
On a random Thursday night a few weeks ago, I had an epiphany. I had really been wanting to just explore somewhere completely new, and different from my surroundings. I felt inside that my soul was in desperate need of a break. I needed to get out of the campus environment and go somewhere that I had no expectations of and I didn’t really plan much either as I wanted it to be as spontaneous as possible. This ultimately led me to drive up to the coastal town of Newburyport, about an hour away where I had never been before. I don’t know if it was the town itself, or my spirit relaxing, but as soon as I stepped out of my car I felt at peace. In a lot of ways, Newburyport reminded me of my own hometown as well as my favorite places to go when I take vacations in the summer. It was the perfect destination for my needs at that moment, and I ended up exploring the area and even taking an impromptu trip up the coast to Hampton Beach, New Hampshire where I stood and watched the massive waves roaring in the distance on a perfectly sunny March day. This trip helped me to destress, relax, and reminded me that sometimes what we need is just a break. Plain and simple.
I feel that it is important to always give yourself a break. You may not realize just how valuable it is until you actually do it. It’s important to remember that we are only in our early 20s once; the kind of freedom we have now is something we won’t have forever. If you want to do something, do it. If you want to take a break, do it. At the end of the day, one assignment is not going to define your entire life, let alone your college experience. It’s easy to stress about school work when that’s the only thing going on in life, but it shouldn’t be like that. Take a break and do something you enjoy. Life doesn’t always have to be about constant work. When you can balance work and pleasure, it leads to a much easier life.
My advice for anyone looking to take a break is to figure out what makes you happy and spend some time doing that. It could be taking the time to read a book you haven’t had the chance to pick up in a while, it could be taking a walk around campus at sunset, or it could be something more adventurous. A break can be whatever you want it to be, but it should be something that leaves you feeling satisfied and full of life when it is over.
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