Christmas Break 🎄🎅 // Recovering from Burn Out

For the last two weeks, I’ve been on Christmas break, both from my day job and from school.

And lemme tell ya—I needed it.

When Christmas break started, I was incredibly burnt out. Even though, in my MFA program, we get a week long break in-between every term (a term is 10 weeks) I needed something longer. Also, when I get my MFA breaks I don’t also have time off from my 9-5 J.O.B job. This is the one time of year that I get both, and I made use of every second of it.

The watch word for this break was cozy. For Christmas I got a lot of cozy items: a glass cup with “Just One More Chapter” printed on the front over a book, an Amazon Fire tablet with kindle unlimited, a tote bag with “Bookworm Essentials” on it, fuzzy socks, new jammies, a new and totally cute pink scarf, a new white beanie, and—most importantly—a brand new pink fuzzy blanket.

So, clearly, the universe was trying to tell me something with all these cozy gifts. And what did I do with all these cozy gifts and free time, you might ask?

I relaxed.

Finally.

Relaxing has never been one of my stronger skills—but this weekend I made it be.

Now with whole days open in front of me, I lived off entirely doing what I just felt like doing. I didn’t allow myself to fall into the trap (too often, anyway) of doing what I feel like I “should” be doing. Instead, I bought and downloaded The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and am flying through it. I also have it in paperback, but the book is so huge that it won’t fit in a lot of my bags without the threat of getting damaged. Also, for some weird reason, it feels more digestible in kindle format. Or maybe I just really like seeing the “x% complete” thing in the bottom right hand corner. It gives me a small sense of accomplishment while doing something I wanted to be doing anyway lol.

I also played a lot of Stardew Valley. My PC copy is modded, and let me tell you: Stardew Valley Mods are like tattoos. You do it once, and you’re hooked for life.

Whenever I play Stardew Valley, I like to have something playing in the background. This time, the only show that would do is Yellowjackets. I’ve seen the show a couple of times through already, but with season 3 finally starting (February 14!) I thought it would be time to watch it through for a third time. Also it just fit the emotional vibe of what I wanted to watch, and with me finding something to watch is like trying to find some music to listen to. I have a very small curated list of mentally approved media and I must cycle through that list ad nauseum. Getting me to try anything new is like pulling teeth.

Honestly, getting to vegetate and listen to a show I already know and play a low-stakes, cozy game like Stardew Valley is great for getting me out of my own head. There’s a reason I want a Stardew Valley junimo tattoo—if there’s anything in the world that will help the tightly wound coils of my brain start to loosen and relax, it’s that game.

A close second, though, is Baldur’s Gate 3

Even though I am tragically one of those people that gets to the end of act 2 / the beginning of act 3 and then decides “I want a new character” and follows that toxic thought almost without fail, I love this game. I mean, a lot of you probably know that if you read my Astarion Plushie Review post. It’s fun to play, I like the character customization, and I feel a real connection to the characters within. The writing is just really good and I love it.

Over the course of about a day and a half, we watched all of Squid Game from start to finish. We thought that Season 2 had been out already and been out for a while and we were just missing it, but we realized the morning before we started Season 2 that it had actually come out on December 26 of this year—so what a happy coincidence for us!

Because it’s such a popular show, we wanted to get it watched before it got spoiled for us. I’m so far behind on What We Do in the Shadows that I’m constantly having to dodge spoilers. I might do a post later about reviewing Squid Game seasons 1 and 2, so stay tuned for that if you want to know what I think of it!

Can you tell we’ve been into Korean horror shows lately?

Right after finishing Squid Game, we started Sweet Home over again so we could catch up to season 2. That one is what I think I was thinking of when I thought Squid Game season 2 was already out, because Sweet Home season 2 definitely is out.

I think.

I’m pretty sure.

Anyway, I used to allow myself time to just lay down and rot while binging a TV show all the time, but for the last couple of years I really struggle to sit down long enough to do so anymore. There’s always this running commentary in my head that I should be up and working and being productive and how am I moving towards my future if I’m just laying here watching TV—

But what I always forget is that relaxing is part of being productive. It doesn’t feel like it is, but we really do need those moments of just playing a quiet video game or watching all of Squid Game / Sweet Home in one sitting with snacks and blankets. Otherwise, our brains get too tight and too tired to be of any real help to us. I heard a quote once, but I can’t remember who it was attributed to, that said “If you don’t make time for your wellness, you’ll have to make time for your illness” and that is absolutely, 100% true. Especially now that I’ve realized that after every single term since I started my MFA program I would make myself literally, physically sick from stress.

Maybe that should be one of my New Years’ Resolutions: Be more open to relaxing.

I’ve still got a few more days left of my break, and I’m going to enjoy them come Hell or high water!

How did you guys spend your Christmas? Let me know!

I’ll see you guys in the next one! Bye~💖!