‘Reading Break’: The calm before the storm

I wrote my first in-person essay exam this past week (and my only midterm exam of this term thank goodness) and now I don’t know what to do. The entire weekend leading up to the exam was straight study, study, study.

Next week is ‘Reading Break’ and I feel like I have nothing else to do and I can relax… what an odd feeling.

To be fair, it’s not like I have absolutely nothing to do. There’s always something to do: work, extracurriculars, errands, chores at home, etc. But it still gets me that once I’ve completed such a big task like an exam, there’s this rest period right after where I feel like I have nothing left on my ‘To-Do’ list.

The worst part is that this is the calm before the storm because the more time I spend ‘relaxing and recovering,’ the less time I have to put toward the next assignment on the list. And then before I know it, it’s two nights before the assignment is due and I have no clue what to do, how to do it, or how to finish it in time and properly.

I will say, this is not the best mindset be in. Though at the same time, our minds are always running as students—when is this project due? How many days do I have before I need to present this? Will I have enough time to memorize 40 pages of textbook for a 30-minute-long, 10-question quiz? If you’ve ever taken PSYC 100 or 102 at SFU, you’ll know what I’m talking about. Never again will I voluntarily take a Psychology course.

Anyway, when does the thinking stop and when can I just relax? I mean relax relax and not have to stress every two minutes about stuff that needs to be done? Only in a perfect world?

I guess that’s just reality, but it always makes me wonder if I’m doing something wrong or if that’s just how things go.

Side note: I’ve been interpreting ‘Reading Break’ as a ‘break from reading’ just as many other students do. And so, when instructors give us exams during or right after Reading Break (which requires us to studying all throughout the break) we scoff. However, I was thinking about it this way: what if ‘Reading Break’ is a ‘break to read’?

Much to think about now, but let’s leave that for the break itself.