It is 2 weeks away from finals, and everyone is busy either keeping up with all work that has been thrown at them or they are just catching up from not keeping up with their work. Either way, you may all feel burnt out and just ready to have it all over with.

I found myself in that situation not too long ago and spent a good chunk of a night not being able to sleep and just thinking over all those things that I had to do or deal with. The next day, I thought about how if I had just spent some time in solitude thinking over things, praying or just dealing things that I should have, then I wouldn't have lost sleep after it had all built up.

Does this sound familiar to you? Has this happened to you?

Take some time this week, because you know you won't have any time next week, gotta cram for finals. And spend it in solitude. If you have a mind that likes to go off on a lot of tangents, write down a list of things you want to think over or things that are going on in your life right now and go through them one by one.

You don't have to spend your time of solitude going over the list, but do use the time to just think about what is going on in your life. It can be thinking things through, writing in a journal, speaking out loud, don't limit it to just what I have listed. I also find it very useful to start that time of solitude with prayer. I hope that I have saved you from some sleepless nights like me!

I've come in the building in the morning before work to find a student lying on the couch studying...That's awesome. I've come in the building on a Saturday night to grab something from my office to find 5 or 6 people talking and making Chinese food in the kitchen...That's great! I've come in on a Friday to find a group of people plaing board games...Perfect! Watching movies, Monday Night football, rousing games of world domination (Risk), and even a girls sleepover. All of this, and more, is exactly why this lounge was built. And I'm glad to see the students using it.

In the past I've heard a few students say that they didn't come to the lounge to study or hang out because they thought they weren't allowed, or that staff didn't want students in the building. Those beliefs are untrue...we love that you all use the building. So, find some friends and play a game, or watch a movie, or come and study...whatever it is, the lounge is for you to use. So have fun!