Midterms are done (for now), spring break has arrived, and I have a moment of rest following the chaos of everyday life. After spending most of my waking hours in some form of motion, it feels incredibly liberating to sit still and breathe. Worries about work, school, clubs, and meetings are slowly evaporating, which gives me plenty of time to do…well, that’s just it. I hadn’t really planned that much for over break. Now that it’s here, I’m seriously wondering what to do with myself.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I find life at home boring or uneventful. Chatting with my family and playing board games with them certainly adds pieces of joy to my life. I also haven’t simply stopped doing work altogether. As much as I would like to take a full vacation from school, the fact of the matter is that projects, papers, and worksheets await to be completed. Vacation releases some time to catch up on work, for sure. But with the everyday stress of living as a college student gone, time seems to pass so much more slowly. With that slowness, I can decompress and savor the moments that I forget about in school.
The act of walking is a good example of this. I walk practically everywhere that is reasonably accessible by foot, and yet it is a process that I rarely appreciate. At home, I no longer need to walk with a particular destination in mind. I can ambulate for the pure pleasure of movement, instead of doing it to get from point A to point B. I think this is a gift that the grace of rest bestows: the ability to enjoy something for its own sake, not just what it was made for.
Perhaps that, ultimately, is the purpose of rest. Rest does not necessarily entail doing nothing, for we always have some task set out in our minds. It involves doing something that we love with intention, and creating the space and time to do it. Whether that space is filled with sleep, travel, reading, writing, watching movies, or play, the fact that we do it because we appreciate it makes it fulfilling. As we continue through the next few days of respite, I’m looking forward to finding and making space to rest for the upcoming weeks. Whether you’re working or are on break, I hope you will be able to do the same.