After reading this op-ed from the New York Times, it was hard not to share it immediately with my incredibly hard working, never take a break grad student husband. The article gave me a bit to think about since I am easily the one to fill up our social calendars and then later get overwhelmed by feeling ‘too busy’ with so many commitments. The last bit on idleness really struck a nerve as well. It seems almost impossible to practice something like this while living in the time constraints of a graduate student lifestyle.
“Idleness is not just a vacation, an indulgence or a vice; it is as indispensable to the brain as vitamin D is to the body, and deprived of it we suffer a mental affliction as disfiguring as rickets. The space and quiet that idleness provides is a necessary condition for standing back from life and seeing it whole, for making unexpected connections and waiting for the wild summer lightning strikes of inspiration — it is, paradoxically, necessary to getting any work done. “Idle dreaming is often of the essence of what we do,” wrote Thomas Pynchon in his essay on sloth.”
This summer, are you relaxing or are you crazy busy?
-M.C.
the graduate wife 
Crazy busy! Every so often I realize I am too busy to have the life I want. I tell myself I need to work towards a life with time to enjoy the gifts I have received. One of them being my PhD student! Since my PhD student is in the writing process, my crazy busy has worked for both if us!