Spring break: the long-awaited, highly anticipated break that university students get from their classes, responsibilities, and the general obligations of life. Whether it’s spending a week on the beach, relaxing in your room, or going home to visit family, spring break is a universal time of relaxation for college students.
Students weren’t the only ones on break this past week. The Stute also took a break from publishing this week—our first and only break of the semester.
Personally, after a forced two-year hiatus from the joys of spring break, I was determined to enjoy mine to the fullest. I muted my Canvas notifications, swiped away emails from my phone’s notification center, and made a point to block out my entire Google Calendar with only one event, vacation.
Going into spring break, I felt ready to throw away my responsibilities for a week and simply enjoy my time off. But after coming back from vacation, I can safely say that trying to forget about responsibilities is no easy task. Sometimes it’s hard to remove yourself from the fast-paced motions of college. For me, the instant gratification of answering an email is far more appealing than pushing it off for a later date, mostly because I despise dealing with the dread of seeing 40 unread messages awaiting me to address at a later date.
It took everything out of me to refrain from reading over my impending assignments and think about all of the work that awaited me after arriving home. Although I tried to succumb to the pressure, one night I spent almost an hour looking over assignments and work in an attempt to curb my anxiety about juggling everything I needed to do when I came back home. Apparently, I wasn’t alone. Many of my peers spent their break completing assignments, catching up on projects, or getting ahead in their classes.
So why do we find it so hard to take breaks?
For one, college conditions us to constantly be on overdrive. We’re continuously overburdened with homework, tests, projects, and life responsibilities; it’s almost impossible to fully take your mind off of everything for a week. And since the start of the pandemic, it’s become hard to distinguish between school and breaks. After spending so long having my workspace and my space for downtime being the same room, my brain sometimes struggles to distinguish between working and relaxing.
Secondly, from a journalistic perspective, it’s true that the news never sleeps. Within a week, Stevens announced a few changes. Administration polled students about possibly removing the mask policy for the rest of the Spring semester, a potentially large step for the university two years into the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, President Farvardin announced the reorganization of the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs (EMSA). Stevens also finally organized the painting of murals by the DeBaun Athletic Field. And with the eventual opening of the University Complex Center, Stevens students will soon be seeing a completely new campus.
There’s an art to taking a break. Most of us have not mastered it quite yet, but we’re taking baby steps. Although I faltered a bit, I still think I thoroughly enjoyed my break. I feel rejuvenated enough to take on the next 6 weeks of classes, and am somewhat excited to get back into the groove of school. I’m definitely excited about what The Stute has planned for the rest of the semester. This week, we have stories highlighting powerful women for our Women’s History Month feature. Next week, we will publish our hilarious April Fool’s issue, The Stupe. In the coming weeks, we have special editions planned for Earth Day, graduation, and more! So as we all come back from spring break, know that The Stute staff is hard at work to bring the Stevens community exciting content for the rest of the semester.
The Stute Editorial is an Opinion column written by the current Editor in Chief of The Stute to address and explain editorial decision making, discuss news and media issues, and develop a sense of trust and transparency between readers and members of The Stute.
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