When I heard that MCA died this weekend, my arms went limp. I haven’t bought a Beastie Boys album in almost a decade but I felt like a cousin had died and nobody in the family even told me he was in the hospital. I wanted to say, “If you would have told me, I could have gone and visited him! At least I could have sent him some flowers!”

One place I listened to the Beasties was, incongruously, when working at a Bible camp in northern Minnesota. Don’t worry, the Christian music scene was represented too (a little). I remember the feeling after the campers left for home, the staff had finished their assigned clean up duties, and the grand unwinding began. With all the work completed, the music played from one of the guys rooms, and people just lay around for a while, did things there wasn’t time to do during the week and generally tried to recover from a long, full week. The demands of others were silenced and the music was loud. And for a day and a half, sometimes two, we had the camp to ourselves.

No doubt there was mischief that occurred during these times (I have a scar on my foot to prove it) but there was also a necessary period of recharging. It would have been nearly impossible to energetically and sincerely engage with hundreds of campers each week if the staff did not get some time to disengage.

My question is: what are you doing to disengage and re-energize yourself after a year with students?

Are you being challenged in your own faith walk?

Do you have people you trust personally, not academically or professionally, who are growing alongside you?

Do you play enough?

What kind of self-care do you need in the coming weeks?

One sure recipe is a Beastie Boy song, a good book, and a glass of something with lots of ice, and sunshine, but that’s just me. I’m sure you can be trusted to pick your own recuperation recipe.