When you are drained and out of energy, and a one-day reset is not enough, what do you do to get back into the groove of things? When I am depleted, it takes me a while to get back to 100%, and I sometimes get frustrated because I have a lot to do. But if you want to be truly effective in life, sometimes you need to put everything down for a few days and go through a full recharge cycle.

Five months ago, in the Fall of 2025, I was in the middle of a brutal first 2L year semester. For those not in law school, second year is typically the hardest in terms of courseload and reading. In true Colby fashion, I decided to make it harder on myself. I was taking both Business Organizations and Evidence in the same semester — two incredibly intensive 4-credit courses — on top of Law Review, other classes, SBA, and everything else pulling at my time. Balancing it all while staying prepared and on top of readings was exhausting me fast.

So when Fall Break arrived, I hatched an ill-advised plan: spend four days getting caught up on all of my outlines, reading weeks ahead, reviewing previous readings from the semester, and doing as much as humanly possible. So what if everyone else was taking a break? This was my opportunity to get ahead.

It did not go that way.

Wednesday, I did a little reading for Evidence before getting distracted by what my roommates were up to. No worries, I told myself. I got plenty of time left. Thursday brought a Trader Joe’s run, a Costco trip, and a gym stop, with the promise that I had all day to work on notes. Nothing got done, and I was still feeling foggy from the week. Friday I went to the library and “locked in,” which mostly meant checking my phone every five minutes and taking half-assed notes on material I had already read. Saturday, I spent the entire day anxious on the couch watching football with friends, pretending to convince myself I would work that evening. Sunday, I scrambled to make grocery runs and hastily read for Monday’s class, wallowing in self-pity because I had wasted the whole break. I still finished the semester well, but I made it to December without a single real day off, walking out of my Business Organizations final running on empty.

You saw the pattern there. I was so fixated on “getting caught up” that I never stopped to honestly assess how I was actually doing. The answer, had I really checked, was not good. Rather than taking real time away to chill, I spent the break worrying about self-imposed deadlines I was never going to meet, which drained me further. There is a meaningful difference between sitting in a library for hours telling yourself you are being productive and actually having focused, effective study sessions where you are genuinely learning something. When you are running on fumes, you are not making real progress. At best, you are treading water. At worst, you are sinking.

Think of mental and emotional bandwidth the way you think about a laptop battery. Your laptop can go days on a full charge without issue, but the moment it gets low, it becomes a real problem – especially when you need it the most. More importantly, the most effective way to charge a laptop is to plug it in while it is completely powered off. Charging it while it is running slows it down, and actively using it while it charges does nothing. Our mental capacity works the same way. You can sustain a normal schedule for weeks without issue, but a full semester in law school demands more than a normal schedule. Eventually, you will be running on fumes. The only way to actually recover is to stop, fully, and let yourself recharge. Letting yourself half-recharge while still carrying the weight of everything you think you should be doing is not the same.

I learned that lesson the hard way in the fall. This spring break has been a different story entirely.

After work last Friday, I made a commitment to myself: no textbooks or school-related shit until this coming Sunday. I turned off my notifications and stopped responding to everything immediately. Saturday, I went to Trader Joe’s, grabbed some snacks, and watched an entire season of The Night Agent in bed. My Oura Ring thought I died because I was so inactive. Sunday, I got a workout in and went shopping with Clara. Monday through Wednesday, despite having work, I went home and did not go to the gym. I played Black Ops Zombies, took long naps, got 10-plus hours of sleep two nights in a row, and let myself do nothing without guilt. This morning, I deep cleaned and reorganized, had a great gym session, and this weekend Clara and I are heading to Nashville for a getaway.

The difference between fall and spring break was pretty simple: this time, I actually stopped and let myself relax. During fall break, I was not recharging. I was just turning my brain off while still letting the worries pile up, which meant my battery kept draining even when I thought I was taking a break. That wore on me for the rest of the semester. This time, the outcome should be different. I feel more grounded, more ready, and confident I can bring full energy into the rest of the semester.

When you are given the opportunity to recharge, take it. Do not try to be a hero by powering through. You will not be effective long-term if you are not taking care of yourself in the short-term, and refusing to let yourself get back to 100% does not help anyone, yourself included. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is to stop everything and go through a full recharge cycle.

-Colby