The Importance of Rest
We’re almost at the end of this mammoth 11-week term and we’re all getting a bit tired. Thankfully rest is just around the corner.
Many students plan to study through the holidays, and while this can provide you with an advantage in upcoming midyear exams, the importance of rest is not to be understated.
Today I’ll share with you one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever been given:
Rest before you need it.
This small token of wisdom can seem counter-intuitive. Many of us prefer to push ourselves for as long as we can before slumping onto our beds in a heap of exhaustion. At first this strategy feels good: you really feel like you’re doing everything than you can, making the most of every minute until you just can’t go any further. I’ve certainly had many nights of studying into the early hours of the morning and waking up anxiety-filled and running late to school. But in these times where we push ourselves to our limit, neither are we doing our best work at the time, but we also burn out and sacrifice future work. Have you ever said “I only started this assignment 2 days ago because I was so burned out after my assignment last week?”
If you want to avoid this cycle you should rest before you need it.
So how are you supposed to know when to rest then? Your mind and body know what they’re doing: they’ll tell you. When I’m working hard I try to notice the first time I have the “ugh, I’d rather be doing anything but this” thought or the “I just want to slide off my chair and lie on the floor” thought. For me, these thoughts are the warning signs to take a break. You might have different thoughts or notice more physical signs like restlessness. Sure I could push through these thoughts and force myself to focus on my work, but these thoughts will only come back stronger and stronger taking more and more willpower to overcome. Instead, I give myself a break.
Depending on how I feel, I’ll usually keep it short: make a cup of tea, stand outside in the sun for a minute, eat a snack, go for a walk. I will try to avoid opening an app that might send me into a lengthy spiral *cough* YouTube *cough*. Your breaks can be as long or as short as you need them to be, but when you take rests earlier, you might find your breaks can be shorter.
What about bad days? There are days when I can spend hours (usually scrolling on my phone) just trying to will myself to get started on work. I can let my whole day go past like this if I’m not careful. On days like this, it’s okay to give up a little bit. If I spend more than 30 minutes unable to get myself to start a task (or stay focused on it for more than a minute at a time) I’ll tell myself that that’s fine and give up — for now.
A lack of motivation or willpower like this is a symptom of not having our needs properly met before we started trying to study. Maybe you do need an hour of guilt-free phone time, maybe you need to eat a bigger meal first, maybe you need a nap! Rather than fight with ourselves, use your reluctance to work as a message that you need to fuel yourself first. Then, in an hour or two, come back and give it another go.
Last but not least, for most people, studying isn’t their real goal or passion. It can feel very frustrating to spend all your time on schoolwork when what you actually long for is your friends, your favourite show, or a new game. Although it’s not feasible to dedicate lots of time to these things during term, the holidays are the perfect time to get your fix. If you want to stay up bingeing the new season of a show — do it! Play Baldur’s Gate the whole way through! These activities, though not typically thought of as productive, are what make us feel fulfilled. Make time in your holiday plans to do the activities your really care about. (I once watched 60+ hours of my favourite show Critical Role in one week of school holidays)
Learning to listen to our body and address our emotional and physical needs is a crucial part of not just school success, but growing up! It might take some time to see the signs of needing rest if you have been ignoring them for a while, but be patient and soon you’ll find a much greater sense of balance in your study schedule.