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“It is expected that Lowell students will attend school regularly. It has been our experience that more than five days of absence for any reason in an 18-week semester results in poor grades.”
That is what the Lowell attendance policy claims. However, due to my joy from taking the occasional day off to recuperate from the 24/7 stress of Lowell, I have come to the conclusion that playing hooky a few times a semester might actually be beneficial for my grades, health and sanity.
I know that the words “playing hooky” probably don’t appeal to the typical Lowell student, so instead I use the more professional phrase “mental health day,” the phrase used by people who have day-to-day jobs, which I see as appropriate considering that sometimes being a Lowell student seems like a full-time job.
Even upon hearing this milder term, Lowell students are immediately divided. For some, the phrase causes their minds to drift off into the forbidden land of sleeping in past noon and being benignly hypnotized by the glow of trashy television. Other, more nose-to-the-grindstone types deny any health benefits of such an “unproductive” day off unless used to write essays, study for both physics and calculus finals and whip out a personal statement over lunch. They may claim that “bad mental health” does not exist as they nervously bite their nails.
However, my definition of a mental health day is neither of these extremes. Instead, I fall back on such days to recover from the daily anxiety brought on by multiple-choice exams and multiple extra-curricular obligations. And while some of my fellow Lowellites assume that mental health days should be used to catch up on homework and to avoid deadlines for big projects, I beg to differ. Rather, I like to use such days to do things that do not remind me of school in any way, such as having brunch out at La Boulange with my mom, taking a refreshing bike ride through McLaren Park, or listening to that stack of Ben Folds CDs on my desk covered up by school papers and old Halloween candy wrappers.
Though a day of relaxation and a matinee movie sound like good excuses to take a day off from school, I often find that I need more personal justification than simply my constantly stressed-out, burned-out and simply out-of-it state of being. For this reason, I like to use mental health days either for prevention or as a reward. The preventative motive is comparable to using a “get out of jail free” card in Monopoly, and is only for dire situations when I feel on the brink of a mental breakdown. Why would I want to go to school on a day like this, when I would only spread my snarling mood around to others who happen to stumble across my path? The second reason to take a mental health day is to give myself a nice pat on the back in return for all the exhausting schoolwork I do every day. Just thinking of that hard-earned “A” in math on my report card seems to deem me worthy of a day spent indulging in some therapeutic baking.
I am always sure to plan carefully, however, for mental health days can easily backfire, leaving me behind in school and even more overwhelmed with stress. After experimentation, I find that it is optimal to stay home on a day in which I have almost nothing to do, reassuring myself that my seat time at school would be nearly pointless anyway. When I am feeling overwhelmed, I simply look in my planner for a day in the near future that is completely free of tests, presentations and after-school meetings, and consider whether this day would be better utilized to enjoy the thrill of taking a midday shower or to catch up on the latest fashions in Teen Vogue. I am always surprised by how much more centered and mentally alert I feel the next day — my stay-at-home days have the same effect as sipping a steaming cup of green tea or taking a calming yoga class. However, even the best-planned days off often leave me feeling guilty about such indulgent relaxation. But instead of letting this guilt keep me from enjoying my day off to its fullest potential, I reassure myself that one day off every once in a while is completely natural — I like to think of it as a sick day, just without the fever — they happen. As long as I don’t let mental health days become a too-often-indulged habit … so I stay wary, for they can foster an unwanted case of junioritis if left unchecked.
I challenge all Lowell students to celebrate the Ferris Bueller mindset — take a day off from your all-work, no-play lifestyle to restore the balance in your life. Realize that school is important, but so is getting relief from an overly hectic lifestyle— just don’t get caught by a truancy officer. |
