I had two goals for this year’s Thanksgiving break: avoid setting an alarm clock in the mornings, and binge watch the entire first season of Stranger Things. Are these goals petty? Absolutely. Do I regret them? Absolutely not. In fact, I did better than expected. Not only did I average around ten hours of sleep from Tuesday to Sunday night, I got through both seasons of Strangers Things. Listen, I haven’t been able to get through a TV show in almost two years (Game of Thrones being the exception, of course), so for me, I think this deserves a pat on the back.
While writing this, I’m atoning for my slug-like behavior that overcame me last week. The end-of-semester projects and presentations are piling up, my senior research is in need of some serious attention, and my poor bank account is gasping for funds. It would have been productive for me to get ahead on my Physiology presentation or make an effort to make a bit more headway into my research. It’s true — I cannot deny my laziness. However, Thanksgiving break, and all other breaks, for that matter, are filled with coulda-shoulda-woulda’s and if there is anything I’ve learned, we need to accept ourselves for who we are, and give our minds a rest.
I am lucky enough to live only 45 minutes away from my family, so at any point during the semester, I can go bother my parents for a home-cooked meal over the weekend. What about my peers who hail from Texas, California, or Wisconsin, who might be seeing their families for the first time in several months? Thanksgiving break is meant to break bread with our loved ones, break our binge-watching streak only to scavenge the fridge for more snacks, and to break, or at the very least, ease the pressure that we put on ourselves at this point in the semester. All Stevens students know that time is our most valuable possession, and that applies to the minutes spent in the company of family and friends.
Next week is Dooms-Week. No, I won’t be fighting the Demogorgans or sealing the gate between Earth and the Upside Down—those are feats that would require much more than a degree from Stevens. However, the final projects, presentations, and papers that could be comparable to the most voracious and merciless Demo-dogs all seem conquerable with a rejuvenated mind filled with even more stranger things.
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