College is an extremely busy time for everyone. We have to balance the higher demands of our classes and put real thought into our work instead of just following the formulas we followed in high school like our best friend, the five-paragraph essay. We have to study for the week prior to all of our exams instead of skimming our notes briefly the night before. We feel like we need to spend every free second with the people around us because of the pressure to make those lifelong friends. We forget about the solace and peace we easily find when we carve out a little me time. Finding time for yourself, whether you want to take a nap or wander campus because the weather is so perfect or read a book or just veg out and binge a little Netflix, is so essential to not going crazy. It absolutely relieves stress and increases productivity. It resets your brain and calms you down.

It's easy to forget about the calming effects of spending time with just yourself and it's definitely hard to convince yourself that it's okay to slow down and you won't miss out on anything drastic or important. I'm among the many who have just started college and forgotten the necessity of spending time by myself and with myself and I didn't even notice until I realized that I haven't read for pleasure or written any poetry or short stories since I got to Hamilton. And I mean, sure I've squeezed in a few episode of the West Wing on Netflix here and there between running around campus, but I haven't had a truly great hour long binge session where I can usually finish the majority of a 22-episode season.

Today, I decided to just spend an hour with myself and my thoughts and a blank page in my favorite notebook. That one hour rivals the some of the best experiences I've had since coming to Hamilton. I sat on a couch with my favorite Spotify playlist and the feeling of my favorite blue pen ready to write whatever popped into my head and about any of the plethora of things that inspire me on this campus daily.

I wanted to write about the amazing feat of being here and the feeling I have walking around campus and it took a while for my rusty writers' brain to kick in, but once it did, I was finally able to put words to the feelings and describe my favorite moment of the day when the sky is perfectly illuminated and the clouds against the clear blue sky are the perfect pink of my room back home.

It's important to dedicate an hour, at least a couple times a week to spending some me time. To check out of the crazy busy world and relax and do your favorite things. To listen to music, to write, to read, to nap, to watch Netflix. To just be with yourself.