When you accidentally open Netflix…
Sara Alonzi FEATURES EDITOR
Image: GETTY IMAGES
For many students, reading week means taking a well-deserved, weeklong vacation from the midterms, assignments, and studying that school demands us to complete. In my opinion, reading week should be a time for rest and relaxation not for assignments, contrary to what your professors might say. However, if you, like myself, have work to catch up on during the break, then the least I can do is share with you my tips on how to relax and take time for self-care.
The first tip I have for you is to start practicing yoga daily. This tip is especially great for the reading week but also for the rest of your life! Yoga is a very relaxing way to wind-down and ease some of the stresses you might be feeling. It has been proven to lower anxiety and builds up your muscle strength. A happy body means a happy mind which means a happy you. The health benefits of yoga are numerous, for proof all you need to do is search it into Google. If you are worried about starting yoga and think it’s too hard or that you’ll never be able to be as flexible as your forty-something year old teacher who can fold into a pretzel shape, never fear! Yoga is all about doing what’s comfortable for your body; if something doesn’t feel right the best thing to do is just to listen to your body and find what works for you. Beginner classes are offered all around the campus and some are free of charge, like the drop-in yoga at the Athletics Centre. If you are more comfortable practicing yoga at home, a great Youtube channel to watch is “Yoga With Adriene.” She offers many different ways to practice yoga and offers practices to target specific concerns you may have. For example, on her channel there are videos for lower back pain, anxiety, body positivity, and much more! When you allow your body to engage in gentle exercise now, you’ll be thanking yourself for it later on in life.
The second tip I have for you is to binge watch shows on Netflix. This is something that is inevitable for most students on reading week. If you don’t binge watch shows during the reading week, then I commend you for your self-restraint. But if you are like me, absolutely obsessed with T.V. shows, then you will appreciate the recommendations I have in store for you. The first is Brooklyn Nine-Nine; this comedic show features a police precinct in New York City with several detectives working together to solve various crimes while managing to get along with each other’s different personalities. This show is a hilarious way to blow off steam and the episodes are only twenty minutes long which means you will feel less guilty binge watching it. Noice! The next show is called Elite; this show follows three teens who are forced to transfer to a school for the wealthy after their school collapses. This show is great for lovers of mystery and the complicated storyline is made even more so when a murder occurs at the school. My last suggestion is a Netflix Original movie called To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. This teen rom-com is based off a novel written by Jenny Han (with the same title) about a teen named Lara Jean who writes love letters to every boy she’s had a crush on. Once these letters get mailed out accidentally, her life takes a series of hilarious turns. If you’ve already seen this movie then there’s no harm in watching it again!
My final suggestion is for you to grab some friends for a night out at El Furniture Warehouse located on 410 Bloor Street W. This is the perfect place to enjoy a delicious meal for an affordable price! Every dish is $5.95, which is perfect for a student’s budget. This restaurant is stylishly decorated and even has an option for you to give back to the community by purchasing a meal for the homeless in Toronto. All you need to do is ask your server for more details! Why not enjoy a meal with the people closest to you as well as doing something good for someone else in the process? There’s not much convincing that needs to be done there!
I sincerely hope everyone enjoys their week-long break and tries to remind themselves that no matter what field of study you are in, you deserve this reading week after all of your hard work. Enjoy!
