Tips for the beginning of the school year
- Maggie Dominiak
- Sep 9, 2019
- 3 min read
Getting into the swing of a new school year can be tough. With summer just ending, no one is going to want to start studying and doing assignments. Figuring out a way to get your work done while also having fun in college can be difficult, but it's not impossible! Below are some tips for balancing your workload and having time for yourself and handling difficulties in college.
Tip #1: Take Breaks
Completing assignments is necessary, but you don't have to run yourself ragged trying to finish everything for homework every night. Most professors don't expect you to throw away your social life and personal hobbies to complete work for their course; in fact most encourage a healthy amount of time to yourself.
Instead of working for hours straight, work in intervals of one to two hours at a time with thirty minute breaks in between. These breaks are essential for your physical and mental health. Not only do they give your brain a break from all the reading and writing you're most likely doing, but they allow your body to rest. Try to eat a snack or meal during your thirty minute break. Watch some YouTube, visit social media apps, play video games, take a nap, whatever you fancy. Allowing yourself to do something you want to do takes off a ton of pressure. This method of spacing your studies and work benefits you in a lot of ways. Below is a link explaining how spacing can positively impact your life as student:
Tip #2: Mistakes are Lessons in Disguise
Mistakes are going to be made while you're in college. Whether that's bombing a huge test or shrinking all of your clothes in the laundry, mistakes are inevitable. Learning to accept that you've made a mistake is super hard to do, but once you do, it's easier to fix your mistake or prevent it from happening again.
Plenty of people let a mistake they've made ruin their days, weeks, months or even longer periods of time because they feel pretty disappointed with themselves. It's ok to be upset with yourself, but letting it ruin other areas of your life makes that one mistake you made worse. Becoming an adult requires mistakes to be made so that people can learn how life works. So that test you bombed? Yeah, the 69% may tell you you've learned nothing, but you've had a life experience and learned what it feels like to fail. Those clothes you shrank? You may not be able to wear them without being incredibly uncomfortable, or even wear them at all; but at least you know to put the temperature of the water down in the future. Every mistake is really just a lesson in disguise, a great life skill is learning to see those lessons when you may screw up.
Tip #3: It's Ok to Not be Ok
When your workload may get too much or you really missed the mark on a huge paper, you're allowed to feel upset. Depressed. Angry. When you're feeling so overwhelmed that you can't breathe, your anxiety is sky-rocketing, or you're feeling hopeless, take time to recharge mentally, emotionally, and physically. Turn those thirty minute breaks into a few hours. Sleep or watch a tv show that makes you feel better. Spend time with people who make you feel you are living a life worth living.
If you need a day, odds are if you email your professors and tell them you need time to yourself, they will understand. After all, our professors were in our shoes at one point in their lives. Never push yourself until something bad happens. Stop when life gets tough, and take a moment to realize you're not ok and need to straighten some things out before going forward again. It's ok to not be ok. College is a rollercoaster ride that can take you down quicker than you realize, but it'll take you high up when you least expect it. Take your time when you've been beaten down, but savor those high moments. You only get to live them once.
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