As someone who is not particularly fond of the entire college experience, I have had to figure out ways to make the whole adventure a bit more tolerable for myself. I suffer from a lot of anxiety and stress, and college only exacerbates these issues for me, so I quickly determined that I needed to do something about it. For me, college feels like high school, except I never get to leave. I live here on campus and I always find myself feeling guilty if I am not doing any homework or studying.
A life of constant work is not a healthy one and even when our schedules get tight, it may not be possible to have a fun afternoon with the friends, but there is hope. There are small little things that we can do on a daily basis to help maintain our sanity. It may not seem like much, but a simple 10 minutes of something for yourself could be the difference between a mental breakdown and a relaxing evening. It is always important to remember that you are more important than that test tomorrow. Here are some tips to help reinforce that idea in your daily life.
1. Face masks
There is absolutely nothing better than taking the designated 20 or so minutes to do a face mask. If you have slaved away on a project all day, it may be ideal to take a break to focus more on yourself. Put on a mask and scroll through Pinterest a few times to take a breather. The homework can wait, I promise. Also, the work will unfortunately still be there when you are done, but you will be re-energized to finish your work and your face will thank you, too.
2. Coloring
I am a huge supporter of adult coloring books and my collection of about 50 books surely attests to my love. Coloring is relaxing and cools your mind down, which is essential when you have consistently stayed up late working on endless amounts of homework and projects all week long. Taking as little as half an hour to color a picture could really help you center yourself, gather your thoughts and emotions, and approach your work with a healthier mindset than before as to produce your most efficient work. So break out the crayons, colored pencils or gel pens and get to coloring.
3. Dance
If you have a lot of homework, chances are that you have sat at the same desk in the same position for a few hours. That's clearly not healthy and it is also quite boring. To counteract that, get up and dance. Close the door to your room, put on your favorite jams and work it. If one of your roommates walks in, do not let them stop you, but rather invite them to join. It will help relieve some tension and will certainly lift your mood.
4. Cry
Crying is healthy, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. When you are stressed, the worst thing that you can do is to build all that negative energy up inside of you. If you let all of the sadness, stress and negativity build up, you will most likely end up losing it in front of your professor when you get back your grade on the exam that you studied so hard for. It might sound stupid, but if you set aside some time to get upset on a weekly basis, you will be doing yourself a favor in the long-run.
5. Eat chocolate
Probably the most important step to caring for yourself, and by far my favorite, is to have some sugar when you are feeling low. No one should ever deprive themselves of sugar if they are facing late nights and piles of homework. Think of chocolate as a sort of reward system for doing your homework.
6. Look into the mirror and tell yourself that it will be OK
Sometimes you may wake up and completely dread the day ahead of you, but you cannot let the stress win. College is not easy. No one ever said that it would be. However, you have the power to make the best of it, no matter how much you hate it. It might not be the best now, but all of your hard work will pay off in the future, so don't give up.
