Relax

Relax is a word that you don’t hear too often at Harvard. We are either working on this p-set or that essay. This practice or that project. This mixer or that interview. At this time of year, classes start piling on and extracurriculars ramp up; life feels like a semester long sprint to summer break.

The endless opportunities to explore and learn here are amazing, but it’s hard to juggle everything that Harvard has to offer. As busy as we all are, I believe it is essential to make time for ourselves to let loose or wind down.

Harvard students are perennially busy. And that’s a good thing. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be taking advantage of the university we have been blessed with attending. But there needs to be a balance. A study conducted at Stanford shows that productivity declines sharply once someone works for more than 50 hours in a week. For this reason, we should strive to be busy with the things that we care about, are passionate about, or thoroughly enjoy. If there’s one thing that I have learned in the past year, it’s that our time here is limited and we should spend it on what we want. If there’s an ancient mythology class that sounds cool, go for it. If there’s a painting society, IM sport, or cultural club that looks fun, go for it. I understand that your schedule isn’t always up to you and not everything will be fun. That’s all the more reason to make sure at least some part of it is something to look forward to.

No matter how much is on your plate, you have to find time to let your brain recharge. Too many students just keep plugging on in an endless game, trying to catch up to their ever-expanding schedule. This doesn’t necessarily mean we need to change our schedules; often times, we are in these cycles because we haven’t taken enough time to relax and recoup. We become tired and inefficient. Sleep deprivation is a big productivity killer, comparable, in some cases, to “legal drunkenness.”

How many times have you been half awake in class only to not absorb anything and spend twice as long learning the material on your own later? This only leads to more work piling on and less time to relax. Over and over again. Take that hour to go to the gym, walk along the river, or watch that episode of Thrones, and it’ll save you many hours later.

Mental health has become a really important cause for concern on college campuses and Harvard in particular. We need to do something about the stress that too many students feel on a daily basis. The culture of Harvard should be passionate and hardworking, not overcommitted and under-rested. While certainly a lot can be done on a campus wide scale, there is a lot we can do on a personal level to take ownership of our health and happiness. If we tackle a busy day knowing that we are doing what we love, it feels a lot less like work and a lot more like fun.

There is nothing wrong with an ambitious schedule. Harvard is a place where we should be encouraged to challenge ourselves and strive to reach our potential, and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have a busy schedule myself. All I am saying is that we should use that drive and put it towards a schedule that is not only productive but also balanced. Success and happiness are not mutually exclusive. In between those p-sets and practices, we just have to make some time to relax.

Jason Ge ’18, a Crimson editorial writer, is an Applied Mathematics concentrator living in Leverett House.