The beginning of any semester is a flurry of excitement and restless nerves. While most students are entering refreshed and ready to tackle the year ahead there’s a likelihood that the semester will get stressful quickly. Below are a few tips to help you enjoy the start of the year without the unnecessary anxiety.
Plan it out: First things first, make sure you invest in a good planner and start writing down any commitments you have whether that be class, club meetings or lunch with the friends you’ve been meaning to talk to. While making events on your phone can serve as a convenient way to keep track of the plans you’ve made, event reminders can get lost in the flood of email notifications and text alerts that come in throughout the day. The best way to ensure that you don’t forget where you need to be and when is to write it down. It may seem old school, but writing down your commitments not only enforces your memory but it provides a space where your to-dos are less likely to be overshadowed by the latest comment made in the groupchat.
Schedule “Me” Time: When everyone is finally back on campus, there’s the sudden sense of urgency to hang out with as many people as soon as you can. In the midst of catching up with all the friends you missed over the summer, make sure to set some time aside to relax and refocus. I’m willing to bet that you came here with a couple goals you want to accomplish by the end of the semester and it can be easy to lose sight of them in the blur of the first few weeks of the year. To make sure you don’t lose your sense of direction, take time to do whatever helps you unwind and recoup, whether that be taking a walk, meditating, or snuggling up to old episodes of your favorite show.
Have Fun: This tip may seem contradictory to the last one but I’m not suggesting you sacrifice having fun or in any way attempt to minimize it just that you be smart about it. There is a tendency for people to over commit and end up drained from all the commitments they have made, so that even going on that weekend outing to Bennington you and your friends planned a couple weeks ago can seem less like fun and more like another required engagement. If having fun starts to feel like a commitment, it’s time to take a break, recuperate, and get back in the game. Fun should be fun, not anything to stress about.
Get Your Rest: This last tip is one I’ve recommended again and again. We all know college students need to get their rest and that they know this too and yet, very few get an adequate amount of snooze time. College is packed with back-to-back commitments and it can be tempting to sacrifice rest time in order to accomplish your tasks for the day. Not to mention it is easy to feel a sense of pressure to muscle through the week because everyone else seems to be doing just fine. However, operating on minimal sleep can only harm you in the long-run. No one can be at their best if they’re still dragging on from the previous 24 hours–no matter how much coffee they ingest. So if you have to reschedule that late night catch up session or take power naps throughout the week, do it. There’s no reason to feel guilty about taking care of your personal health–your body (and your mind) will thank you later.