Anika Week 12 - Take a Break For Goodness Sake
As high school juniors, taking a break must be quite a foreign concept for you all. And by a break I mean a real break. Not scrolling on your phone, stressing about the assignment that you’ve been procrastinating. Not hanging out with your friends and thinking, I have to go home and study for that test in a few days. And definitely not overworking yourself to the point where you are so tired and stressed that you get sick.
During the second semester of sophomore year, I got extremely burnt out and found it really difficult to force myself into doing work. I was constantly tired and didn’t want to do anything productive (even more so than usual), and I ended up constantly scrolling through Instagram reels and finding other ways to waste my time while there was a constant reminder that I was wasting my time ringing in my head, keeping me from relaxing properly.
Summer break eased this slightly, but the first semester of junior year seemed to be hurtling in the same direction, as I intermittently felt burnt out on a low level and was able to get back to it within a reasonable amount of time. Even though I was able to function just fine, I realized that I would end up horribly burnt out by this semester if I continued that way.
And that was when an idea struck: a forced break day.
Now, every Friday as soon as I return from school, I put away all of my schoolwork and do not allow myself to touch my computer. I watch T.V., hang out with my brother, bake, do literally everything but schoolwork. Initially, doing this was really difficult— I would constantly be thinking about how much work I was putting off. However, after a while of confining myself to only doing FUN stuff on Fridays (the horror), I automatically started scheduling my work for later and I was able to enjoy the break.
The results were quite rapid, as I was able to see a noticeable reduction in how burnt out I was throughout the week and I was SO much more productive during the week. I STRONGLY encourage all of you to try taking a break— as painful as it is, it truly does help!
If you don’t have the time to set aside an entire day as a break, you can even try taking short breaks throughout the day, even if it's just for five minutes, as suggested by California Department of Developmental Services.
Taking a break eventually ends up being beneficial, even if it seems as silly as just sitting in a chair with your eyes closed for a few minutes.
Hello, Anika! Your post truly resonated with me because I often find it impossible to take a break in the midst of all my school work! I usually find myself scrolling through social media with the impending doom of needing to finish my work hanging over me, simultaneously detesting the sight of it! As a result, the idea of a forced break day definitely seems like an amazing solution to all my problems. I absolutely love the idea of it. It's such a simple yet powerful concept! It's easy to get caught up in the cycle of procrastination, and the guilt of not working just makes everything worse. What I found interesting in your post is how, by forcing yourself to take a day off, you were able to actually be more productive during the rest of the week. It’s a great reminder that taking time for yourself isn't just important for your mental health, but it actually improves your efficiency in the long run. I think I’ll definitely try to implement something like this into my routine! Thanks for sharing this idea. It truly is a reminder that all of us need to implement this year!
ReplyDeleteHey Anika, I can not stress to you how much I loved your blog post because I think it sends such a big message to everyone in the Bay Area and particularly juniors. Junior year is probably the most stressed I have ever been in my entire academic career and it was hard for a lot of my friends and I to even imagine taking a break, or even procrastinating without the afterthought of homework. Through the past semester I found myself so tireless, that I had to force myself this semester to learn to relax especially when I needed it. I would come home from 15 hour days of debate competitions all weekend and then pull an all-nighter just to catch up with homework I should’ve done over the weekend. While I think it is important to keep up school work and do our best, sometimes we need that break. Thus, I created a plan that every weekend when I wasn’t swamped with actual obligations I would take time for myself and do activities I enjoyed like watching a show or even baking or cooking. Nonetheless, I think that working hard in my junior year was fulfilling even despite what result I got in the end because it was a lesson I needed to learn now rather than down the road. Thank you for sharing your post!
ReplyDeleteHi Anika. Your introduction is so extremely relatable as I too feel burnt out sometimes. I procrastinate not because I enjoy the other things I do, but because I dread doing the mind-numbing busy work assigned in school. Although I can see how your solution can work for you and others, for me I doubt it will be as effective. I feel that if I frame breaks as "good" in my head, that just adds another entry on to my ever-growing list of excuses not to do my work. This problem is one of the reasons why I really like FLEX time though, because it is much easier to fully and completely focus when in a learning environment rather than when I'm among distractions at home.
ReplyDeleteHello, Anika! The things you mentioned in the first paragraph of your blog is exactly how I feel, if I am being honest, I cannot explain how much I resonate with your blog. the workload over the weekends are extremely exhausting to the point it's hard to not worry about completing them or turning them in while on a break. Whenever I think I deserve a break my mind instantly goes to my phone or just lying down on my bed doing nothing or watching a movie, it is rarely doing something out of the ordinary such as painting or crocheting. I remember I never used to have a to do list and liked to keep everything in my mind and to be honest I feel like this was also one of the factors why I felt so overwhelmed trying to repeat them almost every time so I don't forget them. Gradually since last semester I too have been focussing on getting work done before the weekend so that during the weekend I would have most of the time for myself in which I would work on improving myself. Most the times when I feel pretty good about the work I have done I catch myself procrastinating or scrolling instead of continuing the good work, and though as challenging as it may be I am working on resisting myself and working on my self control as I believe that procrastination pushes everything to the point you stress complete it. Anyways I truly enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Anika! Your blog truly showed how powerful taking a break from everything is to the body and the things you mentioned in your first paragraph also reciprocates how I feel about school. Te workload over the weekends are extremely stressful as I constantly think about the amount of assignments I have to do and i even forget to do some. I feel that whenever I want to take a break, I always look over at my phone and instantly start scrolling through social media. Like you, I have decided on every Saturday to make it a break day. I sleep in, relax and play some games, talk to friends and other things. I feel like this method of relaxing has really helped me keep up my mental and completely stray away from all school work. But this method is not sustainable for me and I soon have to find others way to cope with the burn out of school.
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