I thought about starting the new year off by writing about one of my resolutions, but announcing to the world that this will be the year I finally stick to an exercise routine seems like a losing endeavor. So I’ll spare you the misplaced confidence. 

There was one resolution that I stuck to last quarter, though: I didn’t do any work on Saturdays. No schoolwork, no extracurriculars — nothing I would put on a to-do list. As a to-do list lover, that meant a lot. Saturday became my day to rest, to spend with friends, to read for fun, to revel in wild and exhilarating boredom. 

It was the best decision I’ve made in college. 

I should state the obvious: it’s an old idea. Judaism and some forms of Christianity, for example, have set aside a day of rest for millennia. I’m not the right person to speak about the history or details of those practices. But many of their goals — spending time with community, slowing down the pace of life — have resonated with me as I’ve attempted to build a rest day into every week.

The Ezra Klein Show, my favorite podcast, has an excellent episode about the practice called “Sabbath and The Art of Rest.” One of its arguments is that we tend to think about rest as time spent recharging to be more productive later. Instead, rest should be about creating time separate from the productivity lifestyle. 

It was a novel concept to me. It requires a certain pace of life to gain admission to and succeed at a school like Northwestern. I was well adjusted to it, but I was also aware of its limitations: burnout, prioritizing career over relationships, unceasing competition. Those were not the pillars upon which I wanted to live.

So I hit pause for one day each week, midterms and finals included. Was it easy? Yes and no. I think we all spend the equivalent of a day per week being unproductive anyway; might as well do it on purpose. But I had to scale back my workload. I only committed to the amount of work I could do in six days a week. The day of rest, as a practice, is really about the rest of the week. 

In my freshman year, I’m embarrassed to say, I defaulted to doing schoolwork during every empty time slot. Aspirations of productivity filled a vacuum. My resolution changed that. By rule, the vacuum had to be filled by something else. On some days, that meant planned trips: bookstore runs, theatre and dance shows, forays to the Art Institute.

But those days were the minority. Most weeks, Saturday arrived before I had the chance to collect myself from the whirlwind of the week, leaving me with no plans and an empty day. What I might’ve done in quarters past became off-limits. I obviously couldn’t work, but I wouldn’t let myself spend my special Saturdays moseying around social media either.

I found miscellaneous things to do. I returned to old hobbies and tried new ones. I composed music. I read for fun. I tried writing poetry by the lake, which went as badly as you’d expect. I found freedom in boredom. I could just try things, anything, without the expectation of having something to show for it.

My favorite moments, however, were spent with others. I had the freedom — and the mandate — to say “yes” to every opportunity. Want to get dinner in Chicago? Yes. Run an errand with me? Absolutely. Take a meandering, Jane Austen-esque walk? Of course. My friends came to expect that I would be down to do anything on a Saturday, no matter how small. 

That’s the secret: my Saturdays off were not mine alone. In some sense, they belonged to my friends, too. So far, no one I know in college has joined me in taking a weekly rest day, but I hope that it becomes a normal practice. I’m certainly keeping it up this quarter. Do it with the people you love. College is one of the only times in your life when you have the freedom to set your own pace, with friends close by. A shared day off is a chance to make the most of it. Isn’t that the dream?

Scott Hwang is a Weinberg sophomore. He can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.