Spring looks like it has finally sprung at Andrews University, with temperatures frequently above freezing. Despite the warmer weather, though, I had an ice skating lesson earlier this week as an active study break. I started forward stroking as a warm-up before diving into some edge work. I was moving quickly forward, focusing on bending my knees and pushing into the ice, when my coach asked me to come to a stop. Though my ears understood the request, my brain immediately panicked and decided my legs wouldn’t remember how to execute the instructions in my head. So I let the wall do the job for me. I didn’t slam into the boards, I simply glided along the edge with my hand against the wall so I would slow down while half-heartedly using one leg to slow my speed. Sometimes, I skate smack into the wall instead.
My coach immediately told me we were going to practice stopping before anything else. If you are not familiar with skating, the snow plow stop is a foundational move instructors teach students at the beginning of any introductory skating course. Although my skating is not impressive by any means, I have been taking regular skating lessons since September; I learned to stop long ago.
Unfortunately, I have not continued practicing the most basic skills as part of my routine because they are not that fun to practice. As a result, in my lesson, I struggled more to stop skating than to skate backward! Stopping is boring; it steals all your momentum, and who would want to pause when you can zip around the ice and work on two-foot spins, forward outside three-turns or spirals?
Basics are sometimes the hardest skills to work on. They seem easy, but can be hard to prioritize because they are not always fun. However, in skating and in life, the basics are necessary for every other aspect to run smoothly. If you practice the basics with focus, like stroking with power and intention, your other skills will be easier, stronger and more fluid. You will have more power to propel yourself into the fun skills. The same thing is true for school. If you eat regularly and sleep enough, your brain will work better and homework will feel more manageable. The opposite is also true: If your foundation is off, so is everything else.
When getting back to the basics, don’t forget one of the most important ones: to stop and pause. Pausing to breathe is an especially important skill in life. No one can rush through life in constant motion without a break. Sometimes you need to get off the ice and come back another day. These breaks include longer breaks, like spring break. However, even when on the ice you need short breaks to rest.
If I am struggling with a new skill, I always do better when I stop, pause, reset and try again instead of doing the same thing over and over. Usually the break allows me to push into the ice with greater power, which leads to improvement. The breaks even helped me finally get my forward crossovers this week!
Even though there are no more long weekends or university-wide breaks, schedule some mini-breaks to reset without completely leaving the academic arena. If you don’t learn to stop, one day you might crash into the wall when your body finally forces you to slow down (I speak from experience). Pausing and stopping are necessary skills that get easier with practice.
Journal. Make yourself a cup of tea. Go for a walk somewhere new. It is not always easy to make yourself pause, and sometimes we need a coach to help us perfect the basics, so invite friends to a homework-free meal and keep each other accountable. Find other ways to help each other take a break and meet basic needs.*
*My roommate says I should take my own advice
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.