TGIF (Thank God it's Fall)

Autumn in Oxford is magical.

As the days get shorter and the nights longer, I have found myself lingering in the city for a bit longer than I should. This morning I was almost late to my tutorial because I kept stopping on my walk to revel in the way the light hits the trees or pick up leaves dyed the colors of a sunset. When the earth smells fresh and new after a recent rain shower and damp leaves crunch under my feet, it’s as if the world is begging:

Pause.

Simplify.

And so I do. Every afternoon, no matter what kind of work I have on my agenda, I make a cup of tea and a plate of cookies and I sit down and spend thirty minutes in silence, sitting and sipping and thinking. I hear the birds chirp outside, my roommate’s cough from upstairs, and the silence washes over me. I breathe. I let my mind wander.

The opportunity to center myself, calm my thoughts, and unwind is a luxury I never had until this semester. Yet this kind of reflection has been built into my routine as concretely as my trips to the Bodleian Library and the local Tesco. It has almost become a necessity to cleanse my mind, to start over again from scratch.

Speaking of starting over from scratch, my tutorials have been following a similar pattern. First, a little background on my studies here in Oxford: instead of a typical course load, Oxford undergrads take what are called “tutorials,” which are essentially private lessons between a tutor and one, two, or three students. Each week, the tutor assigns a reading list and an essay prompt, and each week, we are expected to show up at the next meeting with a completed 1500 to 2500-word essay on the topic. The tutor will then critique and challenge our ideas in the essay as we, in turn, defend our arguments. It is a vicious, soul-crushing cycle, and one that has forced me to reexamine the way I think and write about my ideas.

In my first session, I was challenged to trash my original essay and start over again from scratch. My ideas were too convoluted; my writing structure, too broad. In essence, my tutor asked me to pause. Simplify.

And so I did. And how much more clear and concise my ideas became after that. Just as clear and concise, in fact, as the world feels after my afternoon tea.

I think I’m going to do both a little more often from now on.