The Article below was published in Vol. 136, Issue 6 of the Lake Forest College Stentor on March 12, 2021.
By Health and Wellness Center Staff
Give me a break.
No. Literally. Give me a break. Please.
I know Spring Break is generally just an excuse for professors to give you more homework or big projects.
But I miss it SO MUCH this year.
And I bet I’m not the only one.
We, staff, student, faculty alike, have become so accustomed to Spring Break that we don’t even recognize the importance of it. In a typical semester, it’s an oasis in a wide desert of essays, the pale reward for surviving another Chicago winter, and perhaps the only few days of the semester in which we can take a breather before committing to the last full measure of the year.
Missing it in a typical year would be tragic.
But, and I really just can’t stress this enough, this hasn’t been a typical year. We’re tired. We’re burnt out. We’re stressed. We’ve transitioned to remote, we’ve survived a semester of Zoom and distance, we’ve fretted, looking at positivity rates as they rise and fall, hoping for a chance to come back. And now, so many are back on campus…and the toll is evident. We’re not feeling the stress of the semester, we’re feeling the cumulative stress of the past year.
And we need a break.
This is not a diatribe against our missing Spring Break. For the record, I completely agree with the decision to not have Spring Break this semester.
But we still need a break. And we have been blissfully dependent on the one provided us most years. This year we have to fend for ourselves. That’s what this article is about.
Students obviously just can’t take a week off. So you need to get creative.
If you can’t take a week, then just start with an hour. Start with 15 minutes, even.
Now, before I go further, I want to acknowledge the chorus of “I don’t have time to take a break!” THAT just arose in response to my simple declaration. Here is where our crusade for a break gets complicated: we’re not only trying to figure out how to take a break, we’re trying to figure out if we have the right to take a break.
Let’s start here: taking a break is more than just a right, it’s a necessity. Like, a literal necessity. You will take a break. You will, and I can’t stress this enough, stop. You can run a car non-stop, saying that you don’t have time to stop for gas. You can totally do that. But the car will stop at some point. The only question is when and how much control you’ll have of where you are at that point. A short stop at the gas station to refill your tank is better than a much longer stop on the side of the road, miles from a gas station, requiring more work, more time, and possibly outside help to get your tank filled. Similarly, making the time for some self-care now may feel inconvenient, but it’s much preferable to the alternatives. I’ve frequently spoken to students toward the end of a semester after something more drastic has happened. After they’ve burned out. After they’ve had to drop that class. After they’ve had a panic attack or an emotional breakdown. After. And the overwhelming majority of them have come to the pained realization that we’ve all come to in moments of 20:20 hindsight: “I probably should have done something sooner.”
So here we are. This is “sooner.”
Take the break now. Make up for this singular missing Spring Break, but also continue this skill into typical years, too.
And, remember, I’m not talking about week-long trips to Cancun, though that certainly sounds inviting right about now. I’m talking about taking a walk around campus and enjoying the nice weather.
I’m talking about going to lunch every day with a few friends and, for an hour, not being “productive.”
I’m talking about taking up a hobby.
I’m talking about starting therapy.
I’m talking about talking to an old friend or a good friend or a new friend.
I’m talking about meditating, listening to music, playing a game.
I’m talking about just…stopping for a minute.
Come on.
It’s not that hard.
Give yourself a break.
