Dear friend,

It's started. The thing you've been waiting for. Break.

After more than 3+ months of swimming amidst schoolwork, organizational tasks, recruiting, jobs, and many other activities and events, this week is a nice breather. You're free from the claustrophobic aspects of life that usually close in throughout the school year. You finally get that moment away from the mess of responsibilities, an opportunity to eat food that is of higher quality and costs more than a pack of ramen, and a time to be thankful of all the things that are usually clouded up by the fog of work.

Except it doesn't feel like you're getting a break.

Final projects are being assigned. Homework deadlines seem to peek out after the weekend. And the stars have aligned perfectly so that the stress of exams is ready to pounce you the moment you exit your preferred transportation method when the break ends.

It would be better if this break was spent preparing for any anticipated stress. Laying out a perfect plan in order to tackle your job as a student, hacking away homework before the deadline, or working out your memory muscle so you can defeat your projects/exams and enter into the glorious light of Winter break victory is so tempting.

But this break is essential.

You live day in and day out dishing out code for projects, spending time clustered up in the mildly cold residences of the lab, and balancing many things in life within CS and outside in the real world in order to survive. And don't forget your work you do for non-CS classes. Your job as a student never seems to end.

And this break is a moment you can rest, rejuvenate your energy reserves, and prepare for any waves of obstacles you face post-break.

Because no one has an infinite reserve of energy to pull from. If they did, they'd either be a complex AI machine or God and since you're probably neither of those things, you should take this opportunity.

I mean, no one is going to stop you if you don't. In fact, you don't need to rest. Especially if you need to work and you need to make that extra push cause you haven't been stressed this semester, or are falling behind, go for it. Work your butt off. Do your best. Use this break to become on top of things.

But if you've been overloaded or stressed, or haven't had a time to breath, please. Chill out. You will do a lot of good for yourself if you take this advice. 

Your success is important. You gotta do good. There's a lot of weight riding on you to succeed. But none of that matters if your physical and mental health isn't stable enough to enjoy it.

So take this break.

Whether you're staying in Austin to live out the apartment/dorm rent, or going back home in order to spend time with family, or traveling to a faraway place out of state for fun, or flying out to the other side of the world in order to bask in the hot Winter, enjoy this time.

Relax. Rest. Meditate. Breath in and breath out.

Thanks.

From Yours Truly,

Yourself

If you like reading my blog posts and want to read more, you can find some of my more personal blog posts here at Medium. You can also follow me on Twitter @SoloTheCreedo for technical updates in my life. And if you're interested, you can rate my code on Github.

Thanks for reading! Have a great break and hope you guys enjoy a much-needed rest. Ciao!