College can be stressful and burn you out really quick! Use these tips and tricks to avoid the burnout!
1. Be Meditative
One central tenant to many meditation practices is the idea that one should carry presentness and awareness into life beyond the actual time spent meditating. When you’re going about your busy day simply reacting rather than feeling like your conscious intentional choices are producing effects, the consequence is a rapid mental spiral. When you start to feel your heart flutter with panic, when you don’t know which item on your to-do list to tackle first— just plant your feet. Take a sip of water. Observe your breathing. The world can wait for you to catch your breath.
2. Take extra health precautions
The best way to not get sick is to, well, not get sick! There are plenty of ways that people tryto prevent illness. Find the method that seems to be your sure-fire path towards a happy immune system and good health. For some that may having plenty of probiotics through kombucha, supplements or food. For others, it may mean doing daily sinus rinses or steaming under a towel on dry winter mornings. Maybe it would be worth it for you to invest in strategies like acupuncture or massage, or maybe you should just be stricter with yourself around bedtime. It doesn’t have to cost extra, it just has to be something you are diligent about and that makes you feel better and stronger. By the time the cold comes, your body is already hurting. Try to get out ahead of those colds so that you don’t have to deal with the stress of illness for as long or as often.
3. Schedule in time to rest
Rest is powerful. Lions in the wild spend the majority of their time at rest. Many religions promote at least one day of rest per week. Athletes have an off season. You need rest. It’s not a luxury, it’s a right and a health and wellness necessity. This rest can be mental, if you are in front of your computer all day writing, strategizing, coding and the like.Instead, try working with your hands to knit, cook, or paint. If you are moving around and working on your feet all day and expending a lot of physical energy, lie back and delve into a book or podcast. Anyone and everyone could use this time to just plain old lie down and doze off. Give whatever you’re doing your full attention and respect. Your body will thank you for it and so will the people you interact with every day!
4. Start practicing saying “no” now
It’s a myth that you have to be swamped doing a million other things in order to have a valid excuse to get out of doing something! It’s hard to say no to opportunities, but we all know the familiar cycle of agreeing to something, panicking because you don’t have time for it, and then backing out last minute or scraping something together to make it work and feeling icky about the end result. Save yourself and everyone else the drama. Whoever is asking more of you will more than likely respect you for asserting your space and telling them you just can’t swing it right now. They’ll be glad that they can call upon someone else to help them out instead, who will be able to do the task the justice it deserves.
If you say no to things before you are totally overwhelmed, you will strengthen that skill and be ready to wield it when big things come up like exams, events, and the season premiere of your favorite TV show.
Save yourself from the drama of being too overwhelmed! Your grades, social life and mental health will thank you!