The last month of the year is usually filled with final projects, essays, and other deadlines. This year, I had a final until the 20th of December and after I got home, I just felt completely exhausted.
The days up until Christmas, I have spent them doing nothing but sleeping and occasionally reading a book that would make me fell into even more slumber because it is a book about a woman who decides to take a year off to sleep it off completely (My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh).
Ever since I started college, I have used the breaks to work on other pursuits, but it is usually not all fun pursuits. They usually are more of a chore that I make myself do. An example of it would be looking for internships, which would entail compiling a list of potentially places where I would envision myself working at and then applying would be a whole long story that would chain me to the computer’s screen.
I agree that we have to work hard to achieve our goals, but I just have been so restless in the past few years that I need to not be doing anything that in my mind feels “productive.” It is like a severe case of OCD in which life has to be perfect and I set a bunch of rules that I have to follow and it has taken over me.
In fact, I should be worrying about post-college plans, but I am neither procrastinating on them, nor working proactively on lining something up. I worked on a few things during the semester. It is not like I am completely slacking. I will work on a couple more things in the next few days, but with this post, I just want to stress how important that you, students, take some time for yourself.
College is indeed important, but we are only young once. Take the time to do the things that you enjoy doing. I love reading for fun, watching films, going out, seeing friends, or even doing the opposite and being a complete introvert. Not talking to people sometimes, taking a social media break, etc. it is helpful for me to be able to recover my energy and feel motivated to be productive once again.
So if you are ambitious, remember that if you do not rest once in a while, your bill will be more expensive with the passing of time. What good can come from a place of accumulation of tiredness and overwork? The work that you can produce by operating under such state cannot promise to be its best, trust me.
It is for that reason that I hope you take these holidays to have some time to enjoy your view and rest.
Best,
Santiago