Maintaining Your Tuftsanity: Take a Breather

In the last week or so, campus has undergone a significant atmospheric shift. It may have snuck right under your nose in the oh-so-subtle way that it does, as the leaves slowly change and the temperature drops just enough to make you question why you didn’t bring more sweaters. This is Boston after all; why wouldn’t the sun go into hibernation far too soon and without warning? While on the surface we all have smiles painted on our faces, there are underlying tones of impending panic. For alas, ‘tis the season of midterms.

It comes in many forms, this seasonal change. For some, it simply means a semester-long head cold, the kind where you’re still perfectly capable of going about your day (as long as you don’t mind hacking up a lung at least twice a lecture then spontaneously losing your ability to breathe through your nose). For others, it means spending so much time in Tisch that you question whether paying for housing makes any sense; the only time you spend in your room is to exchange one textbook for another, and the desks at the reading room are beginning to look more and more like beds anyway. Of course, then there are those inexplicable freaks of nature who float casually on by as though unfazed by the chaos. Having never been one of those people, all I can do is applaud them.

The secret to getting through it all, regardless of how calm you make yourself out to be, is to take a second to stock up on some good ol’ O2. Regardless of the amount of coolness (or lack thereof) you feel, it never hurts to take a breather once in a while. In the wise words of Tom and Donna from Parks and Recreation, "treat yo' self." Though these hectic weeks often don’t allow enough time for a day off, I’d be willing to bet there’s an hour hiding somewhere in that crazy week you’re having to give to yourself. You just have to be willing to find it. 

Need help getting the ball rolling? (Or should I say, getting it to stop for a second?) Check out Uhrig Family Gardens and Terrace, a super-secret campus spot with a circular stone bench built in such a way that if you stand in the very center of it and speak, you are the only person who can hear the echo. Someone standing just five feet away won’t hear the reverb coming straight back at you. If you’re feeling a little insane, as in insane enough to go talk to yourself in public, it might just be worth it. Go tell yourself that it’s all going to work out, because we all know having other people tell you isn’t going to convince you. Call me crazy, but it might just do the trick.