Seats and tray tables in an upright and locked position. Headphones on. Eyes closed.

This state is unfortunately how most students spend their flights to and from school. The flight is nothing more than an annoyance that gets in the way of the next destination.

This process is a symbol of how we act in our everyday lives. Always rushing from one thing to the next, trying to keep up with our busy schedules.

Our hectic lifestyle is no more apparent than in our disgust of airplanes and the inconvenience of traveling from one place to the next. If you took a break from that hurried lifestyle to look out your window, you would notice the irony of the situation – cars scurrying tirelessly here and there like mindless worker ants.

We usually do not have time – except now. Winter Term, like a plane ride, provides us with an opportunity to escape. With only one class a day, it is a temporary break from the rigors of a normal schedule. It offers an unheard of amount of free-time for some people who are used to jam-packed days of school, homework and sleep.

A lot of people have no idea what to do with the extra down-time. They are so startled by having nothing to do that they turn into perpetual couch potatoes, with their eyes glued to the TV screen, hardly noticing the passing of another day.

My schedule last winter term went similarly. I would wake up at 12:30, go to class, eat, watch TV, maybe go out with my friends, go to bed and then repeat. My life followed the pattern of every distilled, uninspired American worker who has settled nauseously into the system. Pretty much like the guys from “Office Space.”

While isolated miles above the fray a few weeks ago, flying back for Winter Term, something hit me just like it hit Peter Gibbons. Be the person you have always wanted to be. Do something you have always wanted to do and not something that will just look good on a job application or make you a quick buck. Read a good book. Play that sport you loved in high school. Sign up for that club you’ve always been interested in but never had the time to do. Just take some time for yourself.

A teacher here at Elon once gave an assignment where I had to spend 30 minutes outside completely alone – no people, no cell-phones, no iPods – nothing except myself. It was so simple, but it taught me the importance of taking time out of our busy schedules. And Winter Term is the perfect opportunity to get started.

What have I done? I signed up to write for The Pendulum.

Columnist: Scott Van Dorn - 01/16/07