Franz Kafka wrote that "a book must be the ax(斧子) for the frozen sea inside us". I once shared this sentence with a class of seventh graders, when we'd just finished John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Reading the end together out loud in class, my toughest boy, a star basketball player, wept a little. They understood. When George shoots Lennie, the tragedy is that they realize it was always going to happen. In my 14 years of teaching in a New York City public middle school, I've taught kids with imprisoned parents, abusive parents, irresponsible parents; kids who are parents themselves; kids who are homeless: kids who grew up in violent neighborhoods. 【小题1】

For the last seven years, I have worked as a reading enrichment teacher, reading classic works of literature with small groups of students from grades six to eight. I originally proposed this idea to my headmaster after learning that a former excellent student of mine had transferred out of a selective high school-one that often attracts the literary-minded children of Manhattan's upper classes-into a less competitive setting. The daughter of immigrants, with a father in prison, she perhaps felt uncomfortable with her new classmates, who came from homes lined with bookshelves, whose parents had earned Ph. D.'s. 【小题2】

Along with Of Mice and Men, my groups read: Sounder, The Red Pony, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. 【小题3】 About The Red Pony, one student said, "it's about being a man, it's about manliness." I had never before seen the parallels between Scarface and Macbeth, nor had I heard Lady Macbeth's soliloquies(独白) read as raps, but both made sense; the interpretations were playful, but serious. Once introduced to Steinbeck's writing, one boy went on to read The Grapes of Wrath and told me repeatedly how amazing it was that "all these people hate each other, and they're all white." 【小题4】Year after year, former students visited and told me how prepared they had felt in thein first year in college as a result of the classes.

Last year, I started the journey of being a remote product designer. The thought of a flexible schedule, a comfortable home office, and the escape from the crowded public transport was incredibly appealing. The first few weeks were filled with a long-lost feeling of freedom.

However, the problems of working from home gradually set in. I had started my day with the best intentions, promising myself quick breaks and regular stretches. But deadlines, endless emails, and virtual meetings tied me to my computer throughout the day, leaving me little time to relax. Gone were the short walks to a colleague’s desk and the quick lunchtime walks around the office complex. Finally, my world was limited to the walls of my home, my steps counted in me re meters rather than kilometers.

One day, I tried fitting into one of my favorite dresses and it wasn’t passing through my waist at all. Glancing at myself in the mirror, I saw a tired person carrying extra weight, rather than someone enjoying freedom. The mix of work and personal life had left me feeling like I was a never-ending motion machine.

That moment sparked a journey of self-discovery. I knew I needed to make a change, not just for my waistline, but for my overall health and well-being. I promised myself that I would prioritize taking care of my body and mind, and find a way to regain control over my life.

So, I started incorporating more movement into my day, taking short walks outside whenever I could and making time for regular exercise. I also set boundaries with, work, carving out time for breaks and sticking to a fixed schedule. Slowly but surely, I started to feel more energized and balanced.

It wasn’t easy, but making that commitment to myself was the best decision I ever made, Now, I feel healthier, happier, and more in control of my life, even while working remotely.

As a working mother, my years passed without time for relaxing. The kids have been out of the nest, and I have been retired. Now I could take some time for ME!

【小题1】 As a lifelong list maker, I did my research. There were relaxation activities like meditation (冥想), exercise, socializing...... I was determined to find the one thing that truly filled my soul. And so I began my not-so-smooth journey to finding myself.

Meditation was the first to come and go. I never fully understood how to shut my mind off. I always felt like I was just waiting for it to end. Next, I tried “Teatime as Me Time.”【小题2】I imagined sitting across from a dear friend, drinking elegantly from delicate cups, but that is as far as it ever went. I have the fancy tea set (never used) and a shelf full of tea packages that I will never consume. Exercise is a highly recommended me-time activity. But for me, after a week or so of training, exercise time was killing me.【小题3】

Many other me-time experiments left me wanting less of them, not more. I felt like a failure at this me-time thing. I could spend the whole morning watching the big, fuzzy bees in my garden. In those moments, time stood still.【小题4】I discovered that I truly desired less emphasis on me altogether.

Maybe the experts had this me-time thing all wrong, and it had little to do with “me” or “time” as I was defining it. Perhaps we are too concerned with how we spend our time instead of enjoying the nothingness of simply being. Instead of viewing it as a hesitation between activities, we can shift our awareness into welcoming timelessness.【小题5】Maybe a better version of “me time” is simply “be time” ...... or, better yet, “bee time”!