I feel guilty for taking a day off

Guilt. An emotion that I think a lot of people would rather just avoid. Guilt has an effect where it can paralyse you, depending on whether you can actively stop it or not. But guilt in relation to studies is one of the worst, because it can lead you to either doing absolutely nothing or absolutely everything. The guilt we feel in relation to academia is usually that we are not working. We feel like since we have a moment to spare we should fall it up with something useful like revision, instead of something else, that we perhaps may enjoy more. This guilt is often misplaced and if not dealt with can lead to an unhealthy work ethic that is detrimental to your health. But don’t worry, because I have been there too.

1) Is doing more right now actually going to help you?

For me, the guilt came from the idea that doing more work means that I am working harder. And if I’m working harder then I must get better grades. I am sure that you can see that there are some flaws in my logic. I could have been working for five hours and only retained half the information, so in the long run not only did I not make use of my time, but I actually wasted it. It is important to stay on top of your work in order to reduce stress and be more organised but this does not mean spending every single second of your day working. This is completely counter intuitive and will actually hinder you in the long run. This brings me on to my next point...

2) Doing more work is going to give you a lower grade.

I know what you’re thinking. What the hell is she talking about? Especially considering the fact that it reinforced in all parts of our society that doing more work is a good thing. Well despite all of this, I stand by this statement because it refers to unnecessary work. There is a point where your brain is just too tired and what you are studying is no longer being retained in your brain but because you have convinced yourself that more work = better outcomes, you keep on working even when you are not even engaged in the work that you are doing. So once again, you are wasting your time and not only that this is not good for your health. You are pushing your brain when it is clearly fatigued and this will have a knock off effect and affect the days after your intense study session and you won’t be able to focus.

3) Not doing anything is part of the process of getting the best grade, funnily enough.

Doing things outside of studying makes us study better. It gives us perspective and makes us realise that our lives need not revolve around studying. It gives our brains a much needed break as it is processing all the information that you put into in when you are revising. I am going to use the analogy of an athlete. Athletes have rigorous training programs, wake up early hours of the morning and push themselves to achieve amazing physical feats. However they also have rest days. These days are designed so that their bodies can rest and rejuvenate and so that they do not push themselves past their physical limits so that it poses a danger to their bodies. If an athletes trained every single day, they’re performance would probably not be as good because they are constantly putting their body under extreme strain. Well revising is a kind of mental exercise, which too needs a break in order to perform to the best of its ability.

4) No one can healthily work 24 hours, it can hinder you

Let me use a personal experience here in order to really drive the point home. When i was studying for my A levels, I felt constantly guilty about taking a day off to the point that I only really took them when my body was on the verge of breaking down. Take my advice and just don’t do it. I can sit here and say that in hindsight I really think that I did not achieve the best grades that I could have because the amount of stress that I was putting myself under and the lack of rest that my body had, really negatively affected my work ethic. My studies were not only the forefront of my life, but at particularly bad points, actually became my life. Let us just say that no amount of money would convince to redo my A-levels. Working all hours of the day no only is bad for you, but it is just not normal for your body. Your body and mind need a break. Otherwise not only will you hinder yourself but it can seep into the rest of your academic career like university and this will make life a lot harder for you.

So in conclusion, don’t do what I did and take a break! One day off is not going to ruin all the hard work you have done prior to that day! It will help your brain take it all in and relax with a much needed break.