For over 20 years now I’ve regularly attended church on Sundays. It was always my time to chill out and have about an hour or so to think about what was happening in my life and maybe process a bit of the craziness.

College made that harder. Fortunately, I found a church, Oaklawn United Methodist, that I can call my “home” here in Dallas.

But I’ve missed the worship service there for the past six weeks. Because of friends’ birthday celebrations, my mother’s visits, homecoming weekend and preparing for the election, I’ve found that at times I need to just take an hour to cool my jets.

I miss worship at Oaklawn terribly (and plan to go back very soon), but I’ve really enjoyed fulfilling myself spiritually with alone time in meditation, prayer or personal study.

Now anyone who knows me will tell you I’m not the most evangelical of people and this isn’t a ploy to get everyone to go to church.

It is a ploy to get you to set aside some personal time each week to do something you really enjoy – all on your own.

I love to go out on the weekend just as much as the next person. I love studying with friends and mixing a lot of work with a lot of fun. We’re in college, and I think we have to take advantage of this time in our lives where we have the freedom to explore and experience all that life has to offer.

However, this can be exhausting. Sometimes we need a break from the books, the people, schedules and to-do lists. We need time to really think about the worries in our lives, or the joys, and how they fit into our personal life stories.

So here’s my plea – take one hour, once a week, and ponder.

Of course we’re all going to take those five minute study breaks, but how often do we set aside time to hanh out solo and seek answers to the stuff that begins to cloud our outlook throughout the week?

Last weekend I was trying to process everything that was about to happen on election night. As I prepared to go home and support my dad I began to have a bit of anxiety. And by a bit I mean I was slightly freaking out. I was in a bad mood and didn’t want to talk to anyone, but I had to keep pushing through the day.

The next morning I made a point to take an hour, sit in my room, close my eyes and rest my mind. I was able to calm myself down and felt like a million bucks for the rest of the day.

I needed this time and I used to find it in weekly worship, but now I also find it through personal meditation. I think it’s important for everyone to find the time and a way to emotionally fill themselves.

That feeling of peace you get after organizing your thoughts or praying to whatever god you may worship is priceless.

For some, it’s in a worship service. For others it’s an hour alone in prayer, or just sitting and doing absolutely nothing.

Religious or not, I encourage you to discover a way to find that peace in your life and let it fill you up so you’re ready to take on the world.

Graves is a junior majoring in communications and religious studies. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].