Are you ever looking for the words you need to hear, and then you realize they need to come from yourself? I wrote this article for me, but I hope, in the process, it helps you too.
So, you’re five weeks into the semester. You swear, you just blinked your eyes for TWO SECONDS, but somehow you’re now surrounded by literal mountains of work to do (imagine books piled high, threatening to tip over with one foul move). Spending entire days alone, just trying to make a dent in your long to-do list. School just sucks sometimes, plain and simple. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take ownership of it and do everything with INTENTION.
If you don’t have a to-do list, then girl, what are you doing????? Write that shit out. Get a visual so you can go after each item full force. You can prioritize the list, schedule it out, whatever you need to do in order to be your most successful self. Take it day by day, and you’ll get there eventually. Wake up, kick ass, repeat.
Go to sleep. Please, just go to sleep. I know you might think that just ONE MORE hour in the library will solve all your problems. Trust me, it never does. Your body will thank you for taking care of it. And taking this another step further, move your body! Eat good food! Hydrate!!! If you care for your body in times of stress, you’re gonna go much further than if you fuel yourself with chocolate and caffeine.
The best resource when you’re feeling overwhelmed has to be the people in your life that make you feel loved. Who else is going to be your hype squad? If it’s a day where you’re not even cheering for yourself, you can bet your ass that your friends have never lost faith in you. Most of the time, we can be the hardest on ourselves. So next time you’re beating yourself up, just reach out to your girl gang, and they’ll get you back on your feet in no time.
Make sure you have everything you need to be successful. Personally, if I don’t have my gum with me, I won’t accomplish anything (the first step is admitting you have a problem, but that’s for a different article). If you’re really gonna crank out some homework, make sure you have your pens, paper, gum, coffee and ANYTHING else you might need. Nothing kills some productivity like a computer that’s suddenly dying on you.
Girl, DO YOUR LAUNDRY! When life is out of control, that pile in the corner can grow faster than you ever thought possible. You’re thinking, “Huh, there used to be a chair there. Now it’s just sweaters and jeans tossed in a reckless heap. Weird.” Not weird. Some things are going to fall by the wayside, but don’t add more stressors into your life than you already have. I am probably the last person that should be lecturing you on doing your laundry (the last time I LOOKED at a washing machine was over three weeks ago), but knowing that there is a pile in the corner of my room staring me down, ever present, makes me want to scream. (Mom, if you’re reading this, will you please come do my laundry for me? Please and thank you!!!)
The one thing to take away from this article is that you can do it! It might feel like the end of the world, like you’ll surely die here under a pile of books and the librarian will find you in a couple weeks. Just keep swimming. Persist. Whatever quote you need to hear, plaster that at the top of every paper you have. I have a bracelet I wear every day that says, “she believed she could, so she did.” So just take a deep breath, believe in yourself, and start that first thing on your to-do list.