“Now is the time for joyhealthhappinessmaxxing”, reads the text I sent to my friends before we moved back in for Trinity. Just over two weeks later, it has proven true. Every time someone has asked how I’m doing, I tell them the truth: it’s my happiest Oxford term yet. And it’s not just me; everyone’s dopamine seems to have tripled. Sure, the beautiful weather is a not-insignificant reason for the drastic mental shift – the other day I stepped out into a middling amount of rain and experienced my first real negative emotion so far this term – but there has to be something more to it.
So what actually characterises a Trinifree? So far, Trinifree is shaping up to be an attitude, not a fact. This, of course, may ring hollow coming from a second-year English student with no exams to speak of, but materially, I’m only juggling slightly fewer extracurriculars than in Michaelmas or Hilary. Nothing significant seems to have changed. So why the sudden happiness, the abrupt joie de vivre, the renewed zest for life? Where does it stem from?
For me, at least, I’ve chalked it up to no longer overcommitting. It sounds counterintuitive to advise scaling back during a term where most of the humanities students you know are the freest they’ll ever be, but take it from me: I didn’t scale back even when I was at my busiest, and it wasn’t pretty. Filling all my time with committees would be enjoyable, meaningful work, work undertaken in the gardens instead of the library, but work nonetheless. I wanted the time to work and play. This time, going into the vac, I signed up for a normal amount of responsibilities for a normal number of societies. I’m very happy to report my quest for a mentally stable Oxford term has so far been a smashing success.
Experiencing Trinifree with a proper “Trinittude” (Trinifree-attitude) means the chance to do things I would have considered unfathomable during the past two terms, like take a nap in the afternoon or resolve to never pull an all-nighter in order to finish an essay. Now I have the chance to relax between lectures and talk to acquaintances I’ve always wanted to be closer to, instead of spending every free moment completing assignments. I’m catching up with old friends and TV shows instead of fitting meetings into my calendar like Tetris blocks, or resorting to a meal deal because I have no time to head back to college (my current meal deal count this term stands at a whopping zero).
Michaelmas was characterised by miserably cold days, Hilary by miserably wet ones. By those standards, anything would be an improvement. But the change isn’t just good relatively, it’s objectively an upgrade. My most convincing anecdotal evidence is how my dreams have shifted from Matt Damon telling me I’d been rejected from all my internships to my current ones about my football club losing the league.
To clarify, for those wondering: yes, you can be both locked in and Trinifree. Its namesake freedom isn’t about being free of exams or academic commitments; it’s about being free to be spontaneous, to host a podcast, cook a meal that takes more than thirty minutes to make, try new sports, or actually read the books for your essays. Even to sit down and write articles like these. Last week, I did extra reading beyond the starred compulsory ones and was astounded by how good it felt to be on top of things, to have the time to do things because you want to and not because you have to. I’m undeniably Trinifree; I’m also undeniably locked in, even if that locking in doesn’t necessarily happen in the library every day.
So take heart. It’s not impossible to be Trinifree if you have exams; it’s just a little harder. What defines a Trinifree is the resolve to not let anything consume your life, whether it’s revising for exams, summer applications, or society work. It’s a commitment to finding ways to enjoy each day, even if you enjoy some more so than others. All of this begs the question: Is Trinifree timeless? Can one have a Freechaelmas, or a Hilafree? Well, insofar as one can be Trinifree shivering in their puffer on a rainy walk to lectures, I suppose so – although maybe there’s a reason those don’t roll off the tongue quite so smoothly.
