Time and time again, there is one point in each semester that I find myself stuck. Stuck in my head, turned around, confused, other thinking, over it. It usually comes after having taken several finals with more in the near future or after spending weeks writing a paper and the due date is in sight. The exhaustion comes from the reading, the retaining, the analysing, over and over again for months. And finally, when I need my brain and focus the most, I cannot do it. At this moment, I start to panic because this is the last thing I have time for. Over the years, I have learned to do the opposite of what feels right in that moment – I stop. I listen to my brain and I take a break. I go on a walk, call a friend, clean the house, whatever it may be, but my brain rests. Sometimes its an hour, sometimes its three hours. And when I come back, my brain is ready and three times as productive as it was when I was trying to force myself to keep going. Time can be your enemy, or you can make it your friend. Things become a lot easier when you allow it your friend!

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