Like many college students, all my classes went online when Covid-19 hit the United States. This took place during the second semester of my freshman year of college. I was only beginning to get used to the new city and new friends I was surrounded by when all of that was shut down. I completed my freshman year of college online, and when the 2020-2021 school year came around, all my classes were online again. Now I am a junior in college, still feeling like a second-semester freshman, and I am back going to in-person classes this semester.
It has only been two weeks since school started and yet the change of pace going from all online to in-person classes is harder than I anticipated. I know I am not the only college student struggling with going back to in-person classes, so I thought I would share some of the ways I am coping with my increased stress levels.
- I plan out my schedule and set reminders.
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I add anything that takes up time to my calendar, including when I have class, meetings, work, assignments due or when I plan to hang out with friends. When everything was online, I did not have to worry about missing so many things since I could just get out of bed and go to class through my computer or complete work asynchronously. Having everything planned out helps me stay organized and takes away the stress I have about forgetting to go or do something.
- I Communicate with people in my classes.
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In class group chats, other kids are always sending texts when assignments are due or asking questions about the class that I sometimes also have. I find that even though I don’t often contribute to these text chains, it helps to know what your classmates are discussing outside of class and to have the ability to ask questions before you reach out to the professor. If no one in the class group chat can answer a question you have, don’t be afraid to email your professor. Knowing I am not missing anything is helpful in reducing stress about a class.
- I keep up relationships outside of class.
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Outside of the people in your classes and your professors, it’s important to have people you can reach out to via phone. Your parents, friends, roommates, etc., can all be people you can contact when you need to talk about something. In my opinion, relationships are essential to keeping me sane while living independently. Having people I can confide in, whether relaying stories about my day or concerns about a class I have can, it helps put the thoughts running through my head elsewhere.
- i keep my mind occupied.
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When all else fails, I have things I do to forget about what I am stressing over. This includes reading a book, listening to music, scrolling on Tiktok, eating a snack or exercising. When something is stressing me out, I take a pause and find something else to do that takes my mind off of it for a few minutes. If I am not thinking about something, it often doesn’t exist in my mind which means I am not worrying about it.
Good luck to anyone beginning in-person classes this semester, it is challenging but not impossible!