It’s hard to beat two weeks of peace after two months of hard work. The first week I do as close to nothing as I can. I don’t think about school, about how well exams went, what I want to do with my time, what’s going on in the rest of the world. I can hide in my room and play video games all day. It’s nice and quiet for a while.

But peace can only last so long, and as Christmas nears I begin to resurface to reality. Winter break is a period to check in on how life is going. I look back on past Christmas and New Years like scenes on a roll of film. It’s a little snapshot of what life was like that year. That means thinking about all the things I blissfully ignored for the first couple days.

Christmas always reminds me about the spirit of giving, loving your family and all that good stuff, but for the past few years I can’t help thinking about climate change, yup that’s right, climate change. I always hope for a snowy Christmas. In early December the high got up to 55 degrees. It has snowed since, but it felt strange wearing a t-shirt in December.

Shortly after Christmas comes New Years, and now the train of personal reflection is picking up speed. Not just about how the year went for me, but how it went for the country. Last year Obama was on his way out, Trump was on his way in. Last year many beloved movie stars died, this year many were accused of sexual misconduct.

Another year passes, lots of stuff happens. What I’m trying to get at, maybe not so successfully, is that when there is so much happening, when the noise of the world gets to loud, taking a break to relax and reflect can go along way.