[take your PTO]

Collage from a weekend in Atlanta, GA. Photos by Aisha Frazier.

This weekend, I finally took a much-needed break. I don’t get those often.

See—I’m a full-time graduate student Monday through Thursday, and I work for a local news station Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the assignment desk. When I’m not doing that or drowning in schoolwork, I deliver for Uber Eats to fund my expensive eating habits and supplement my income. Free time? Never heard of her. Last semester, this became a serious problem.

I was borrowing hours from sleep just to finish homework. Social events? Friends? Family? All became afterthoughts. It felt like I was stuck treading water — never swimming, just barely staying afloat.

Being 25 — like I mentioned last week — has been a lot of re-learning. My plate got fuller, and I still had to manage what was already there. I struggled with my mental health because I wasn’t making time to check in with myself or do the things in my life that keep my cup full. And while I knew I needed to, well… that’s easier said than done.

So, this semester and for the second half of my 25th year, I’m making a conscious effort to prioritize myself — as in scheduled, non-negotiable "me time." Just like we’re taught to set time aside for homework, workouts, and sleep, we need to pencil in time to do absolutely nothing and time to do what we love.

One way I implement this is by taking daily "brain breaks." I block out anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours to stop working and give my brain a reset. Researchers at the University of Connecticut who study kids' developmental science found that brain breaks help kids focus better in class and promote positive cognitive functions. I’m applying the same concept.

A picture of my daily planner that incorporates brain breaks into the planning.

Because really, I’m just a child in my mid-twenties.

Another way I’m reclaiming my time? Actually using my PTO. After all, it is time that I have earned. Wild concept, I know.

Back in undergrad, I worked as a Starbucks shift supervisor and almost never used my vacation time. It got so bad that my boss forced me to take a weekend off. I don’t know why I did that — maybe I wanted to be a “good” employee, or maybe I was so caught up in career-building that I forgot burnout exists. By the time I left that job, I had 60 hours of unused PTO.

But with my newly developed frontal lobe, I’m applying my learned lessons. So, this weekend, I cashed in some time off and went to Atlanta to see friends. I stayed with Jasmine, one of my best friends from college, and we stayed up talking until 4:30 a.m. like it was a college sleepover — except this time, in her beautifully curated Midtown ATL apartment.

When we finally crawled out of bed, I got my large iced Americano from a local cafe. We shopped at the mall, stopped by the iconic 285 Flea Market (where I got my first pair of down-south grillz — a very important staple in Black Southern, ATL culture), and did our makeup while unpacking the chaos that is dating in your mid-twenties.

It was peak girlhood.

We ended the night at our friend Xandr’s place on the Westside, where they cooked an amazing meal and tested some new cocktail recipes on us.

Sunday morning, I caught up with my childhood best friend, Gabby, over lemon blueberry goat cheese pancakes and fried chicken for Brunch.

The only downside? I probably won’t see them again for a few months unless we plan another getaway. That’s just the reality of adult long-distance friendships. But weekends like this? They make the wait worth it.

… and I started my week with an overflowing cup of gratitude and love.