Look, I get it. You’re in college, I’m in college, and we all don’t have free time. Especially when we’re about six weeks into the semester (four if you ignore the week where Dorian couldn’t make up her mind up about if she was going on vacation to Florida or not) and just about everyone is dying right now. Getting hit with exam after exam, the holidays approaching and the crazy juggling between doing well academically and actually having a social life can be pretty tricky to deal with.
As a person who not only goes to college full time but also works over 30 hours a week and volunteers at a hospital, it’s needless to say that I spend a good amount of time simply trying to figure out how in the world I am going to just get downtime and relax. Back in high school, I used to hate days where I just laid in bed all day and did nothing because I didn’t have any plans. Now that I’m in college, days like those are my safe haven.
The way that college is set up, a lot of students feel guilty whenever they are not spending their time studying or doing homework. Any time spent can be considered to be “wasting time” even though for their own sake, that downtime can mean all the worth when it comes to mental health. I know I’m not alone when I say that it can be very easy to put too many things on my plate and I jam my days with things to do and rely heavily on iced coffee.
The gag is, college students are sleep deprived and need coffee to keep their day going. But honestly, it can be pretty gruesome to really be living like that. It’s so important to learn the difference between straight-up procrastinating and wasting time and taking the time to relax and care for yourself. You will really thank yourself later in the long run.
There’s a huge connection between the body and the mind. Whenever one is not doing too hot, chances are that the other one will follow. Being stressed out and not taking a breather could result in headaches or irritability, which would do absolutely no good in getting things done.
So what’s the key to finding out a balance between the two? Planning your day! First of all, a Target run to pick out a cute calendar or agenda (and both is even better) is a beautiful form of self-care. I’, such a big fan of grab a million different colored expo markers, color-coded down to the class or activity, and just mapping out my week.
I can see exactly when assignments are due, when I’m scheduled to work or when there are things I need to do, and I plan exactly when I need to sit down and knock out homework. Quite frankly, it’s also pretty aesthetically pleasing to see my days planned out in color.
The interesting thing about the college experience is that a lot of people expect to jump into it knowing exactly how to manage time. Truth be told is, time management is nothing like high school, especially when the number of things that must be done can seem exponential.
It really is a learning experience and there will be times when you feel like time is not on your side. It can be all the harder when you work a lot and must find a three-way work, school, social balance but that’s when planning comes in handy. It actually is good to drag yourself out of your home every now and then and fit in some good interaction, even if it’s just a study date or lunch with a friend.
When it comes down to it, you’re going to have free time and you shouldn’t feel guilty whenever that free time does come up. If anything, be proud of yourself if you’re all caught up and take that time to take care of yourself. Figure out your rhythm and see if you thrive off of getting things done in a single day or if you need to spread it out—everybody has their own groove!
As college students, we always joke around that there’s no such thing as free time but really, that’s not the case. Work hard and get things done sooner rather than later so you can thank yourself later when you have the time to sit back and binge your favorite TV show.