The Importance of Going Outside

Ever since I was a secondary school student revising for my GCSE exams, I have been reminded time and again by well-meaning people of the importance of taking regular breaks when working.  Carefully scheduled 5/10 minutes here and there to break up the monotony of sitting at a desk, staring at books/screens and scribbling notes.  As a PhD student, I thought I was doing pretty well with this.  I often get up to make warm drinks in the kitchen next door or walk a few meters down the hallway to collect documents from the printer.   And yet, I kept finding myself angsty and frustrated, at times even a little claustrophobic, as I sat at my desk, working away on a project I continue to find exciting and stimulating.  Right now, I'm not at my most stressed. I'm not chasing nine different people trying to tie ends up for a conference, I'm not simultaneously working on four completely different assessments, and though my mental health has been iffy as of late (cheers for that, depression 😡) it is nowhere near as bad as it has been in the past.

The answer came to me when I began a little extended stint of working from home as a result of the current UCU pension strikes (blog post to follow on this sometime soon).   My 'hot drink breaks' were reduced to a 10-12 step round trip to the kettle.  If I fancied a few moments away from my screen, I would migrate to the armchair on the other side of the living room.  The little study world I had created for myself in my flat was much smaller than the one I occupied up at the university.  Since I wasn't heading to my office, my morning and afternoon walks to the university were struck from my schedule.  The more I thought about this, the more I realised that I had overlooked something simple in my day to day life: the importance of going outside.

So this afternoon I took a little walk. Nowhere particularly exciting. In fact, I walked to the local Tesco to buy a bag of oranges.  For those of you who live under a rock, England (even Liverpool!) is pretty cold and snowy right now.  The sky was clear, the air was brisk, and the cold was bracing.  All in all, the kind of weather I enjoy.  As I went off on my little stroll I enjoyed the feeling of the cold on my face, the kind of cold which pricks your face like a thousand tiny needles and leaves your cheeks pink (or in my case, bright red), but at the same time leaves you feeling alive and awake.  And you know what? When I returned from my short walk (with my oranges), I felt better for it. 

I'm lucky enough to live with the River Mersey and the Liverpool Docks right on my doorstep, with paths and walking routes stretching right along the coast. I've made a resolution to myself to remember that there is, in fact, a world outside my little PhD bubble, and that I should be taking time to bring some balance to my life by enjoying it. 


Elaine Over & Out.
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Classics and Ancient History PhD student at the University of Liverpool, working on Lucan, Necromancy, and Civil War. Generously funded by the AHRC NWCDTP. Also enjoys music, polo, and gin. For more information, head here: www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/current-students/student-profiles/elaine-sanderson/

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