Junior year of college has recently been, pardon my French, whooping my a**. I’ve overloaded my course load, I have a cough that won’t go away, I have an additional four hours of homework a night, an insane amount of clubs and club meetings to stay on top of, and I work part time. As one can assume after reading that, I’m quite exhausted and I know a lot of you probably are too. Because of this, I think it’s important to share how I keep myself motivated.
On the five school days, I have an hour break that divides my morning classes from my afternoon classes. During this time, I make sure to do something fun. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I go to lunch with a group of my friends, which really helps me to destress from the mountains of work I have due later on in the day. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I go out for coffee. It’s a short drive, but it is by far the best part of my day. I get into my car, blast my favorite songs, and drive along the beautiful streets of Beverly to get to my favorite Dunkin’. By the time I get back to school, I feel so much better and am typically in a much better mood than I was when I left.
On weekends, I make sure to take Saturdays to just stay in the room and relax rather than stress about my homework. I usually take a really long shower, get coffee, clean, and then retreat to my bed and watch TV or read for a couple of hours. Occasionally, I’ll switch it up and go to some sort of sporting event with my roommates, which is honestly just as fun! On Sundays, I let myself go back to doing schoolwork, but I make sure to take breaks in between subjects so I don’t get lost under the hours of work.
Some of my biggest motivators, aside from caffeine, here at Endicott, are my friends. We constantly check in on each other and do things together to make sure we aren’t falling behind. This includes things like school work, going to the gym, and even making sure we are all doing basic things to take care of ourselves.
On my hard days, meaning the worst of the worst, most stressful days, I make sure to get off campus and go somewhere outside and just breathe in the fresh air. I typically will drive to my favorite park and sit by the water for anywhere between a few minutes to a couple of hours. This really helps me to think and refocus my energy before I get back to the grind of everything else I have on my plate.