Hopefully you all enjoyed a nice couple of weeks off from the studying, cramming, and attempts to maintain or boost the ol' GPA. Including the weekends and holidays I had 11 straight days off where I was completely disconnected from work and nowhere near the office or cubicle. Unfortunately, I had five straight days of holiday parties and family get-togethers followed by a nine hour drive to Memphis, TN for a wedding. After driving back the day before New Year's Eve I didn't even feel like going out and partying, but I made a brief appearance at a house party before hanging out in a much more relaxing and low-key apartment shin-dig involving two other people.
Before I knew it, I was back at work sorting through emails and voicemails from while I was out and coming up with a plan of attack to take care of project work in a timely fashion. Even though the time off wasn't the most relaxing, just being away from the office environment, client calls, and project deadlines for an extended period of time was enough to allow me to return and be more productive. After three days of 8 straight hours of work per day I'm ready for another vacation - which is where the weekend comes into play.
I'm sure as students you will start to feel the weight of coursework assignments and stress building up as the first few "orientation" and sessions basically covering the syllabus are overcome by actual lectures and assignments. As a freshman, I thought that the three week break between semesters was almost too long and couldn't wait to get back to the grind. Once back in an auditorium listening to a lecture for a course that I was required to take commenced I started wishing I was back at home messing around.
One of my flaws is not being able to fully relax, and always thinking about work or what is coming next. In college, as breaks would drag on I would look forward to the coming semester. Once it arrived, I would look forward to being done with the semester. This is a vicious cycle, and one that I've been trying to break by really taking the time to relax or take part in something that I enjoy from reading or writing to going out to the local bars with friends.
There will be times this semester as with any previous semester where you will turn down social opportunities due to coursework that you will feel needs to be completed in order for you to feel like you can relax and have a drink with your friends. Looking back, I know that I did this way more than I should have realizing that the assignments or studying never took as much effort or time that I predicted they would. I'm not saying, "Screw School, Have Fun", I'm saying "Work hard - especially in courses that matter to you and could benefit your career the most, but play harder". This will allow you to manage the stress and worries that come along with the whole going to college thing.
In the words of comedian, Lewis Black, from the movie, Accepted - "You only have four short years here. And then you're f*****". When you're in college, this is pretty much the battle cry. When you're out of college, you see that life is still very fun if you take the time to enjoy it and take adequate time off from work in order to re-charge and maintain the work/life balance. My goal this year is to use more of my vacation days, and hopefully increasing productivity and contributions while at work as a result.
