Early morning ramblings...

So I'm not posting about my thoughts about God and religion and what it all means for me in this world.  Sort of.  Rather this is a post to praise the value of pure relaxation and distancing from work requirements.  I discovered rather quickly after my move to Texas that in grad school, winter, spring, and summer "breaks" were really just a chance for grad students to catch up.  BU so far hasn't been that different.  Where BU has been different though is that the faculty and staff (seem to) understand when people say "no," it's more likely than not because they truly need that time for something else.  So this Spring Break, I said "no" to school work for the first time in years.  Last Spring Break, I worked 12-16 hours a day on my thesis for at least 5 days straight.  I did enjoy me some SXSW shows, but I didn't come back to classes rested and refreshed.  This Spring Break, though, I didn't do any school work for 7 days straight.  Instead, I went to a meadery AND a brewery, watched the entire last season of Weeds, took care of some apartment spring cleaning (albeit not all of it), went to yoga, and threw a St Paddy's Day party.  Oh and slept.  A lot.  So come Saturday, I was okay to go to an event for a class project for 4 hours and today I was okay to spend most of my afternoon reading.  Because it wasn't the same old thing I'd been doing for the past week.  I do have a lot of reading due tomorrow, a quiz on Tuesday, and a paper due Wednesday in addition to all my usual weekly requirements, but things suddenly feel doable. 

And I know I said this wasn't going to be about religion and technically speaking it's not, but it does 100% tie into the emphasis of Sabbath-keeping that many theologians argue for.  And it's also been part of my Lenten journey.  I gave up coffee and caffeinated soda as I had realized I was using them as substitutes for healthy eating and regular exercise.  While I couldn't exercise much until early March (as I had gotten a stress fracture in my foot January), having caffeine out of my diet somewhat forced me to take mini-sabbaths from time to time.  And I think that made me more receptive to truly breaking from my school work this past week.  Whoever said "You can sleep when you're dead" likely wasn't nearly as productive as I've been in the past 48 hours.

Oh... and I've started watching Doctor Who.  Let's see what all this fuss is about.