Seriously, just chill

>In defence of the summer vacay

Sharon Miki
Contributor

 

m willing to bet that you—

yes, you—deserve a break. |
don’t mean, like, a five-minute
scroll-through-Instagram
break. I mean an actual don’t-
work-at-all-just-rest kind of
break—something that we used
to refer to as summer vacation.

You remember summer

vacation, right? For most of us,
there was a time in our lives
where we prioritized taking
a step back from the rigors of
routine in order to recharge,
refresh, reflect and, ultimately,
come back stronger. Nowadays,
fewer and fewer of us are taking
the time to map out a rest—and,
counterintuitively, it’s making
us weaker. We're overscheduled,
working harder, longer, and
faster, moving from class to work
to commitments in an endless
loop. We worship competitive
busyness. We brag about the lack
of sleep we're getting. We roll our
eyes at the perceived laziness of
our friends that invest in time
away for themselves. But where

is it getting us, really? We're
exhausted, our relationships
are suffering, and we are half-
assing everything. And, if we
keep it up, we could be heading
towards dangerous territory.
Karoshi, a Japanese term for
“death by overwork” is an actual
thing. Karoshi has been legally
recognized as a cause of death in
Japan since the 1980s—a type of
accidental overdose on stress and
exhaustion that causes the same
end result as any type of lethal
overdose. The rise in karoshi in
Japan was the result of a similar
work-work-work-work-work-work
mentality—taking hard work and
lack of rest to an extreme that
wastes lives and destroys families.
I get it, though. Ina
culture that increasingly values
output and productivity at all
costs, it’s incredibly tempting
to overwork due to extreme
FOMO-—a fear of missing out on
success if you aren’t constantly
in motion. I’ve fallen ill to this
fear, myself, working day and
night, eschewing vacations,
and taking stat holidays as
opportunities to work more. I
thought I'd get ahead, but 24-7

output really just robbed me of
enjoying being alive 24-7 (not

to mention not being able to
remember what happened at the
last, like, three Christmases).

So what’s the solution? We
just need to plan to chill. I know
that life is competitive, but what
if we started competing for the
best friendships, healthy sleep
patterns, and daily joy? Travel
costs money that we might not
have, but vacations don’t always
have to involve travel. Really,
summer vacation at minimum
just needs to involve some sort
of unplugging and stepping
back from the grind. A weekend
can be spent stressing over a
computer, or it can be spent
in the sunshine. The key is
making rest and rejuvenation
a priority—a part of your
overall strategy for academic,
social, and career success.

The truth is, you really can’t
sleep when youre dead, and life
is so short. This summer, try your
best to make like Ferris, because
“Life moves pretty fast. If you
don’t stop and look around once
in a while, you could miss it.”

e —

What to do when you don't like your group

> All projects need a leader—could it be you?

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor

 

WW: all been in a group
project where we felt
that we’ve drawn the short
straw. In every classroom there
are the students who are the
workhorses, there are those
who are naturally gifted, and
there are those who are simply
slackers. At one point or another,
you'll get the last pick and end
up in an indecisive group where
progress is agonizingly slow.
Most likely, you'll be waiting for
someone else to finish his or her
part before you can complete
yours. This pushes the workload
further and further towards the
deadline, causing a lot of stress
for those who genuinely care.
I’ve been in those types
of groups, and I’ve been both
a diligent worker and an idle
procrastinator at different
times. I’m sure there are people
in the world that will vow to
never work with me again, or
even talk to me. However, there
are people who I have a great
working relationship with.
Why does one environment
cause me to retreat into my
shell and another allows me to
meet or exceed expectations?
Group projects, without a

cy

f

measure of respect within the
group, are volatile environments
where people’s emotions and

the idea of fairness harm the
process of the assignment. When
a group of students is left to
govern and motivate themselves
to finish a project—one where
the only guidelines are written

ona piece of paper—there are

bound to be disagreements.

These disagreements can

sustain themselves throughout

the length of the project and

go unresolved until the very

moment you hand it in. Why?
The problem with bad group

projects is that nobody rises

  

Image via thinkstock

up and takes a leadership role.
With no guidance, what ends up
happening is that the collective
begins to resent each other, as
work is not being completed,

or is being completed in an
unsatisfactory way. | know

we all think of ourselves as
adults who are capable of

 

&{
x

Image via thinkstock

taking on responsibility and
following through with it—but
I don’t believe that maturity
or seniority has anything to
do with a successful project.

At school, we think of the
teacher or the instructor as
the boss, but that is not the
accurate way of thinking about
it. The teacher or the instructor
is actually the market—the
ones receiving the goods you
are making. They are the
consumers and you are trying
to please them. But if that’s the
case, then who is the boss?

A leader should always
be a member of the team,
one who is closely entwined
in the happenings of the
project. It should never be
someone external. It’s the
reason companies of all sizes
have a president, CEO, and
managers at every level. Some
groups will function fine as a
democracy. But if you are dealt
a shitty hand and end up with
a group of people who aren't
motivated, a fair voting system
isn’t going to work. Someone
needs to lay the hammer down,
make decisions, delegate
work, and make sure there are
repercussions if the tasks aren’t
completed at a predetermined
time. In your next group project,
make sure that happens.