Taking a Sabbath

I've decided to do what many medical students would find unthinkable: Pending some kind of crisis or disaster, I'm going to take a day off every week. A day without studying -- no reading, no typing up notes, no cramming for quizzes, nothing. Happily, this allows me to do the other 2 things that I've been hoping to do as well: explore the city, and go to new churches.

There are several reasons why I'd do this. First, to keep my sanity -- there's no way I can possibly study every single day of the week without going crazy at some point. At St. Olaf, I found myself unable to take a day off, but I was much more involved with extra-curriculars that kept me occupied during the time when I would otherwise have been able to study. There was band, CSA, SPO, living in the house, TAing, and all those other little things that cropped up, and believe me, they were all worth it. Here, though, everything is much more medicine-related. Obviously, that's why I'm here, but I need to do other things to keep me focused.

That's the second reason for my day off -- to focus better. If I have a lot of time to get something done, I'm not productive. If, on the other hand, I have my day of relaxation and fun, then I'll be much more productive in the days surrounding it; it feels more like a reward and/or compensation for working hard.

The third and most important reason, however, has some interesting inspiration surrounding it. What I'm actually doing is taking a sabbath -- taking a day of rest, coinciding with the day of the week I go to Mass. We've always been taught from the Ten Commandments that the seventh day is holy, but for many people, all this means is that we go to church and maybe do something with our friends or family if we have time. More likely is that we use it to get caught up on whatever we fell behind in during the past week. I remember when Becca spoke at an SPO dinner about the importance of being committed to taking a sabbath -- not only for God, but also for ourselves, to allow God to rejuvenate us through our time of rest and reflection. I respected the message, but I thought, "No way, not possible, not for me. I have waaay too much going on to do that." But I saw through the following years how happy and peaceful she and my other housemates were throughout the week when they had their day of rest. Now I'm at a Jewish school. Many of my classmates are Orthodox Jews, and you'd better believe they take the Sabbath seriously. From what I understand, this means that they aren't even supposed to read books for studying (but leisure reading is all right). Well, if they can get through medical school -- and indeed, already got through college -- adhering to these kinds of practices, then why can't I? Why can't I have a day of rest as well, for reflection, relaxation, and rejuvenation?

The answer is that I can. I can and will have a sabbath. And I thank God for that.