Mothers are the best. Mothers run the world. That’s why it’s no surprise that most of us turn to our mothers when we need them the most. As a current freshman in college, I have learned that adulting is hard.
For the first 17 years of my life, my mom was always the one to remind me to eat dinner and go to sleep. Now that I’m at college living away from home, I have to remind myself when to eat and sleep. This has been a major adjustment for me since starting college. There many days last semester that I skipped meals and a lot of nights that I got little sleep. Neither are healthy for one’s brain and body.
Below I’ve listed some tips that may help you organize your eating and sleeping schedule. They’re not guaranteed methods but hopefully they can be a start to you leading a healthy, less stressful semester!
- Make a list: Making lists can help you navigate what you need to accomplish. Try making a habit of creating a list of things you want to do in a day and work through them one by one. An example of a daily list: breakfast, check mail, email professor, lunch, gym, homework.
- Set smartphone reminders: Most phones these days can send you reminder notifications. Utilize this feature. If you’re like me, you’re most likely on your phone frequently during the day. Set reminders for meetings, appointments or even assignment due dates.
- Phone a friend: Sometimes it can help to stick to a schedule if you have a friend to nag you to eat dinner or get a good night’s sleep.
- Try a new alarm: If you’re having a tough time getting up in the morning (I regularly do) you can try a new alarm app called Sleep Cycle. Sleep Cycle tracks your sleeping patterns in order to wake you up when you’re not in a “deep sleep”. I’ve had the app for a few months and have noticed considerable improvements. It’s available for both iPhone and Google Play. https://www.sleepcycle.com
- Call your mom (or maternal figure): When in doubt, call your mom. She might not always have the answer to your problems but she’s likely to have some important advice. Remember, your mom knows what it is to be a young adult. Love your mom, love yourself.