As the first month of my freshman year comes to a close this week and as I reflect on the past five weeks of college, I can definitely say I’ve been more stressed than I ever was in high school. From endless reading to weekly quizzes, I’ve had a hard time keeping my head above the water, but with these five tips on how to overcome the stress that comes from hard classes and lots of work, I’ve been able to take some time away from work to enjoy an episode of How to Get Away with Murder, to call my friends from home, and to get to bed relatively early a couple times a week.
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1. Use a planner. I think that anyone can tell you that taking time each week to figure out when homework assignments are due, when you have quizzes and tests, and when you have other obligations is such a great use of your time. Without a planner I don’t know how I would get through each week. I like to write down not only assignments and club meetings but also friends’ birthdays and time I have off from school. Doing this each week takes only a couple minutes, and it really makes a huge difference when it comes to stressing out. When you can just flip through your planner to figure out how long you have to work on a paper or when your next statistics quiz is, it makes everything easier and helps you breathe a little bit better.
2. Clean your room. This really makes a huge impact on your stress levels during the week, even if it doesn’t seem like a huge deal. Making your bed every morning and keeping your desk space neat and organized keeps you even more organized. Personally, when I walk into my room after an early morning class and see that everything is put away neatly and that my bed is made, I feel less inclined to take a nap and more inclined to get down to business. It’s also nice to have a clean closet and dresser, as well.
3. Do your laundry. This goes along with keeping your room and your closet clean. Make an effort to clean your clothes, including your sheets, once a week. I know how stressed I get when I wake up on a Monday a half hour before class and feel as if I don’t have anything to wear because all my clothes are in the hamper. I also really enjoy doing laundry because it means a whole new set of clean clothes!
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4. Give yourself some alone time. I’ve realized over these past couple of weeks that living with someone else can be quite challenging, especially when it comes to waking up and going to bed. I think if you take a little time to sit down with your roommate and talk about when each of you can have a little bit of time to yourself, you’ll be golden! Alone time gives you an opportunity to enjoy some peace and quiet and relax, and relaxation means less stress.
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5. Get work done during the weekend. I know this can seem like a given, but I have found getting my work done one Fridays and Saturdays to be very difficult. Every week, I tell myself that I’m actually going to do a lot of work on Friday afternoon, so I can go out and have some fun the rest of the weekend, but I never stick to my plan. I do know, however, that if I were to do my homework on Fridays and Saturdays, my Sundays would definitely be less stressful, and I’d actually have time to do all the other things on this list. Doing your work over the weekend also allows you some extra time during the week to either catch up on TV shows or just chill out for a little bit without worrying about homework.
Main image source: genuinehealth.com