I go to a Seventh-day Adventist University. However, unlike many of my fellow students, this is my first time being in an Adventist setting on a daily basis, as I went to public school all through grade school. I had a really great experience both in middle school and high school, and wouldn't change where I had gone or the friendships I had made for anything. Yet I am also definitely glad of the decision I made to come here to Walla Walla University, instead of going to a public university like all of my friends from high school did. Even though there definitely are some aspects here that I don't always appreciate, such as being in the middle of nowhere and having slightly more stringent rules that are set in place, I have come to appreciate the community atmosphere that I'm not convinced I would find in the same way at some other, bigger universities.

One of the aspects that has been quite novel to me since coming here is being in a place where other people observe the same day as I do for going to church and simply taking the time to stop, take time to be with God, and relax from all of the crazy stress from the week. I have always been the weird girl who can't go to the birthday party on Saturday, who has to leave events early or come to them late, and for some reason does this all on Saturday instead of Sunday-- I have never been somewhere where my peers around me believed the same thing that I do, and celebrate the chance to take a much needed break, instead of ridiculing it, or at the least, being very skeptical about the entire thing.

As a kid, I hated the Sabbath, or at least hated when it meant I wasn't allowed to go out with my friends. However, as I have gotten older, the Sabbath has become a time of refuge, a time to re-group and re-cooperate, to relax and renew, and I can't imagine not having it integrated deeply into my life. By the time Friday rolls around, I am often exhausted, especially after a particularly busy or stressful week, and there is really no greater feeling than knowing that for 24 hours, I can put that all aside, and simply spend time with friends and with God, a kind of fast from stress. And being somewhere where the majority of people do this with me has both challenged me to dig deeper into why I believe in the Sabbath, as well as given me the chance to celebrate this chance to rest along with the people that are stressed alongside me throughout the week.

I know many people view a 24 rest period as an impossible ideal-- that is, impossible for somebody who is truly busy, for someone truly committed to their studies, for someone who really is doing something with their lives. But leaving the religious aspect aside, I argue that everybody simply needs to take a break to preform at their best, and that everybody does take breaks, just not in such a formal way and perhaps a bit more subconsciously, such as procrastinating. It can be far too easy to get swept up into the pressures and stresses of pursuing a degree and a career, that the idea of being healthy, both physically and mentally, gets put aside until it's convenient. I would encourage you to try and set a larger chunk of time aside each week to re-cooperate, or at the very least try to take some time to do something for yourself, even if it's only 10 minutes before bed-- just take a break, no matter how small, because that is the only way you will gain the strength to keep going.