College is supposed to be fun.
But instead, it’s a stressful journey we’ve unconsciously subscribed to and a weird middle point of your life where you’re forging your future.
In four years, you have to figure out relationships, friendships and your professional path. It’s the time to make decisions and work your ass off to reach that eventual success.
And often fear of not reaching that end goal can lead to us over doing it, putting too much on our plates. Suddenly, we are soldiers who are battling wars against ourselves, sacrificing moments of sanity that are vital for the process.
Yes, we are young, and we must take advantage of our amount of energy and time available. But when is it too much? For me, the answer relies on listening to yourself and your body’s cues. For instance, you might be balancing a lot of tasks and ravishing in stress. And though stress might help you check things from your list, it can also overwhelm you and leave you in a blank state where easy tasks seem more unachievable than what they actually are.
When we have a lot of things to do at once, stress can hit us all at once affecting us emotionally and physically. “Stress can affect all parts of your life, including your emotions, behaviors, thinking ability, and physical health,” WEBMD Hedy Marks said.
The effects of stress can leave behind an energy-deprived version of yourself that has a harder time shutting her mind when trying to engage in other tasks, or even lead to depression and anxiety in the long-term, according to Marks.
Once you learn to listen to yourself, you have to identify the source of it. A little trick is to use the 80:20 rule, a short term strategy to identify stressful tasks.
“What are the 20% of things that are causing 80% of the stress?” Christina Shenvi said in an article for Harvard Macy Institute. “If you can identify the main sources of the stress, then you can hone in on ways to de-stress, minimize, complete or step away from them.”
If it’s either something you chose or something you have to do; the key is to balance things and know how to. Prioritize your tasks. Ask yourself this question: what’s something you either must do or can complete right now? Once you’ve identified them, get to know your working pace.
If you get overwhelmed fast, work little by little. Starting early will give you more time to balance those things aside from responsibilities like friendships or relationships.
But most importantly, don’t put too much on yourself.
Yes, you have the years, the energy and the time. However, don’t burn your years trying to save years in the future because that piece of mind you just lost… it will not come back in the future.
Know your limits and understand them.