By Masha Komissarova
What did you do on Monday during the famous Boston Marathon? Did you watch the runners? Did you participate in the marathon? Did you go to bars with your friends? Or are you that kind of person who doesn’t care about sports at all? I’ll tell you what I did and hopefully give you some inspiration for your next marathon or your next weekend.
I woke up at 7 am and went running by the side of the beautiful Charles River. I needed to fully wake up so I could calmly sit down and study. At 8:30 I ate breakfast and opened my books. Partly why I decided to stay in was because I had an important research paper that was due Wednesday and I wanted to do well on it. Also, I thought, the people who are participating in the marathon are being productive because they’re doing what they’ve planned to do so why shouldn’t I do the same? After I made significant progress on my paper, I took a quick break. I ate my favorite granola (Nature Valley oats ‘n honey) and called my grandparents.
Then I decided to wash my hair and do a face mask. While I was waiting for the mask to do its magic I cleaned my room. I like having a clean room and workspace because it increases my productivity. At about 1 pm I read some more. One of my current favorite books is “On Mental Toughness” from Harvard Business Review’s 10 must-reads. I never thought a book could be life changing until I opened this one. Read this book. It will not only give you knowledge but will greatly motivate you, and we all know we need that as college students.
At the end of the day, I was fully prepared and re-energized to go back to classes on Tuesday. Even though I heard so many celebratory noises outside and kind of felt like I was missing out, I was very happy on my decision of staying in my room because at the end of the day that same marathon will happen next year but we all know how slowly our GPA grows. I have this weird mentality: I can’t have fun unless I feel like I deserve it.
I hope I’ve convinced you that sometimes staying at home and spending a day with yourself is a better alternative than joining the crowds. I’m not saying you shouldn’t live but sometimes, especially now with finals week coming up, I think you’ll thank yourself later for working a bit more. Pull all your strengths together and finish this semester strong! And then…. you can relax and have a crazy summer full of fun adventures.
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