First, we breathe
by Andrei Pineda
You did it. You’re here, and you finished it. Despite all odds, you triumphed. Now, it’s time to give the rightful pampering to yourself.
I’m not going to claim that you won’t be facing new challenges in the next few weeks. I’m not saying that the dreadful nights where instant coffees and lofi study music become your companions are over and done with.
But what I do want you to know is that you can take a momentary stop to briefly catch your breath.
Weeks of you crawling and cramming that one paper due by the end of the weekend are now put into a screeching halt. Days of quizzes, backlogs, and nerve-racking recitations — you carried through them all. Now that the long-awaited recess is fast approaching, you can now savor the brief ease that you have been eyeing for a long while.
A quarter of the academic year is done, and the arrival of our sweet time off is now finally within reach. Four full days dedicated to the students who put blood, sweat, and tears during the almost three months of heavy work loads.
Ninety-six hours for you, and for you only.
You can now let out that deep breath you’ve been holding in for months and months — puff it out like smoke along with the sound of your recorded sessions that you’ve been hastily replaying over and over again. Open your devices — and for once, don’t type in UST Blackboard in the tiny search bar and try Netflix instead. Or YouTube. Or Spotify. It’s all up to you. This time, it’s you who gets to choose.
Put on the trendy show about squids playing games, or the one about Koreans dancing cha-cha-cha in their hometowns. Turn up your favorite tunes, channel your inner Ariana Grande, and screech out the barely attainable high notes paying no mind to your parents that are side-eyeing you two walls away.
So, breathe. You’re in charge. Seize the short and rapid break by putting the focus primarily on yourself first, and give yourself a pat on the back for arriving at the halfway point of the year.
