It’s not you, school, it’s me; we’ve got to break up.
That’s what I feel like telling my schoolwork and my job right now (Hey, the line still works since I work for a school).
While spring break was nice, taking time to schedule regular breaks is equally important for your mental health.
According to an article from The New York Times, your mental concentration is like a muscle. We are supposed to rest our muscles after a hard workout, so we need to treat our minds the same way.
So let’s mix together some out-of-the-ordinary experience, a dash of exercise, and a healthy dollop of budget-friendly consideration to create some mini-spring breaks to keep us from breaking during the final stretch.
Pole dance
That’s right, there is a place to pole dance in St. George.
I’m going out on a limb, but this could be a fairly unique experience for many Dixie State University students and could make for some great new memories.
Southern Utah Pole Dance has a beginner class and drop-in sessions, though it is encouraged to reserve a spot on the day you want to go. A single class costs $10 while the open gym is $8.
Who knows, maybe you’ll find a new hobby.
Lava tubes
My first visit to St. George was a hike through Snow Canyon State Park and exploring the lava tubes.
The lava tubes were both awesome and a bit terrifying. And after getting pretty chilled underground, having a picnic on the petrified dunes was the cap on a great day. Not bad, especially considering the cost for a single vehicle is only $6 for a day pass into the park.
As a side consideration, take a grocery bag when you go in. People have a tendency to drop trash even in these beautiful areas, and it always makes me feel like a knock-off Captain Planet to pack out some trash.
Geocache
No need to try to get to Treasure Island because you go on a treasure hunt right here in St. George. Geocaching is a useful website and app to get you going on your adventure.
There are difficulty ratings, and some of the containers are ridiculously difficult to find. For instance, it took some friends and I 10 minutes, craned necks and our tallest friend to eventually locate the cached container.
One of the most fun parts of geocaching for me is finding random nick-knacks to put in the containers I find. Because if you plan on geocaching, remember this rule: If you take something out of the cache, you have to put something in.
You aren’t required to put in anything if you take nothing, and, really, I always find it more fun just to add things. And, hey, it’s free.
As crunch time hits you, with semester’s end projects to do and finals looming on the horizon, taking short breaks like these can make the difference in what mental state you end up being by the end of the semester.
So do yourself a favor: Take a break and avoid a breakdown.
