The morning is crucial and different for every single person. You can hit the ground running with a 6am jog, or sleep in until noon. I’ve always found myself to be a middle-riser, not quite the dawn-crowd nor the sleep in as late as possible type. The true luxury is the peace to enjoy the mornings as you please, and the freedom to choose whatever way you wish to spend a free morning. Granted, life often prevents this, but at college we even lose the space to choose. Space is the greatest luxury of all, the quiet serenity of an empty house is something we forget we had. Naturally, my first choice of habit upon my return to a snow-covered New Jersey was to really take advantage of the quiet expanse.
6:47am- the TV is still on… I fell asleep again on my 3rd attempt to watch the new Hunger Games. Passing out on the couch has its ups and downs. Fumbling for the remote is never fun, but waking up to a 10lb dog asleep in the middle of your chest is a pleasant rarity. The quick spurt of alertness gives way to the sheer comfort of dogs and blankets.
8:11am- Alright, it’s definitely time to be a human… but is it?….
8:54am- eeeehhhhhhhhhh…. It’s home, it’s a celebration of… something
9:37am- Cool, alright, not trying to sleep anymore counts as starting the day right?
Regardless of whether I regret oversleeping or not,, the freedom is better than anything else. Being home holds a different value for all people; some people can’t wait to go back to the dorms and some never want to leave their living room ll in all it has something for everyone. I don’t think I need to speak to the joy of reuniting with friends and family, but it’s easier to forget how few moments we can have alone. We spend a majority of our time in a place where we are never more than ten feet from someone Time at home is value for reflection and the solace of solitude. This can be a quiet meal alone or shamelessly listening to a bit too much Frank Valli (if there is such a thing) by yourself.
The difficult reality of time home is that we try to do everything, like seeing every last high school friend we forgot about until now. A time to recollect ourselves from the personal adjustments we deal with at college turns into a mottled to-do list. We somewhat contort ourselves differently for every circumstance we’re in. What can we call ourselves if we endlessly live this way?
I am no symbol of perfection, nor a genius on the matter, but my advice to all of you spending this week at home is to take time to yourselves. Take the dog for a walk around the park, look through your old child memorabilia, sleep in the extra 45 minutes in a contently empty house, enjoy the handfuls of minutes in complete, unbothered aloneness while they’re yours to have.
Picture: roicorp.com
