It’s OK To Take A Break!

Posted October 11, 2024 by Isabella Rodrigues

When I decided to go to grad school, someone very wise told me to treat it like a 9 to 5 job. Especially after I hadn’t been in school for a couple of years. I remember staring at them, scoffing, and saying something along the lines of: “Okay, well I already have a job. How am I going to juggle two?” School, I believe for a lot of us, is something that we might see as intuitive. We have been doing it since we can remember. So what if we have taken some time between degrees? I figured I could jump back in easily, imagining I was one of those adults who could do it all. Work, school, and have a social life. 

And I did! And do. But, I am also tired. I think burning ourselves out is something we, generationally and socially, are almost expected to do. During my first year at Simmons, I was barely at home, eating exclusively takeout at strange hours, and falling asleep at my friend’s dinner parties. Things I used to enjoy like reading, painting, working out or even just catching a movie took the back burner. When I did have time to relax with friends or pick up a book, I couldn’t focus, instead thinking of all the things I should be doing. I should be studying, I should be applying for internships, I should be networking, I should be looking for another job. I could feel myself having a harder time paying attention in class, to assignments, and to my own needs.  It’s not that the coursework was undoable or that my job was too demanding, it’s just that I wasn’t seventeen anymore—taking 5 AP courses while doing sports and theater and art. I needed more time for myself to do the things I like. To kind of just be a person. Stretching yourself thin sounds romantic until you’re too tired to eat a granola bar or take a shower.

Eventually, I found the groove, but I did have to reevaluate my priorities. It’s alright to drop a class, it’s okay to take a night off and just watch television. Go grocery shopping, schedule a doctor’s appointment, call a friend. There’s always people who will listen.  I suppose I’m writing this in the hopes someone reads this and decides to take a break. Go see a movie or write a bad short story. You deserve it.