Rest: You Have Earned It!

You. Yes, you there. Stop and read this for a second.

You did it!

You got through Trials! It was hard, but you studied through the pain, you rose above the boredom. You just cleared the last roadblock before the HSC! So, what now?

Marks will be coming back very soon, and there is plenty of time to go over your performance. To figure out what went right and what went wrong, and what you need to do to improve and meet your goals by the time the HSC rolls around in October. Self-assessment and evaluation, that is super important, and that can come later.

Right now, you’ve earned a rest.

Trials are a super intense period, and the HSC is still more than a month and a half away. If you started studying for Trials in July, and go through all the way to the end of October, that is four months at full speed ahead! Simply put, that is not sustainable for almost anyone.

It’s like watching a 400-metre race at the Olympics. You cannot come out and sprint right out of the block, you’ll burn out and collapse at the halfway point. Instead, you rest in 2^nd gear, lift at the right times, and finish strong

The HSC is just like a 400-metre run, do not treat it like 100-metre sprint.

So, right now is a perfect chance for some rest and a breather, in whatever form that suits you. I personally took a pretty big rest after my Trials, a good two-or-three-week rest actually. In those few weeks I only did homework and prepared for my Music 1 HSC Performances/Major Work Submissions. No extra study, no extra homework, nothing of the sort. I stepped away as much as possible from everything academic, to try and let my brain cells rest and recharge.

Of course, you should take whatever form of break works well for you. Maybe just 1 week of absolutely no extra study. Even just one weekend where you lock the books away entirely to rest and spend time with family/friends. Whatever it is, it will be massively beneficial to you. Rest your brain! It will definitely need it right about now, and you don’t want it gasping for fuel right near the finish line.

Now I’m not saying to take a whole month off doing completely nothing. That’s a momentum killer. But a few days of complete rest, or a few weeks of reduced workload, will do wonders for your motivation and energy levels.

So, rest. You’ve earned it.