College brings all new experiences, friends, opportunities, and responsibilities. It's invigorating to say the least, but sometimes...a little overwhelming. It really is a balancing act and it can take a few falls to succeed, and sometimes a few more falls after that. so how do you balance life in college when you have to worry about homework, your friends, your hobbies/intramurals, your job, your internship, and most importantly, making time for yourself?
1. Get Organized/Have A Schedule
I do not mean to sound like a nagging mom, but you're an adult and it's time to get your sh*t together! Or at least try to look like you have it together. Having a planner is the best way to organize and plan out all of your activities for the week/month, and even see important deadlines that are coming up towards the end of the semester.
Pro-tip to college planning: make a homework schedule for each week. Having only the due dates written down will make you think every day that "this is not due yet"... and then come said due date, you'll be scrambling to do your assignments last minute. You'll end up having to bail on whatever commitments you made for that day or bailing out on doing your homework all together.
2. Get Ahead
The great thing about having a schedule is being able to look ahead and get ahead. I know we all love to procrastinate and go out with our friends or actually stay in and watch Netflix, but getting ahead will make your future self so much happier and relieved! Coming from someone who works 25 hours a week, has an internship 20 hours a week, and is taking a full load of classes... I can attest for how thankful I feel when I get my homework done ahead of time and can go out with my friends on the weekends (or act as a potato and watch Netflix all day long).
3. Know Your Limits
Knowing your limits means knowing when to say "no". It is so easy in college, especially as a freshman, to end up in over your head with commitments. Between student organizations, intramurals, presentations, events, and hanging out with your friends until 3 in the morning, it's almost impossible for us to say "no" to all of these opportunities. I get it, I have anxiety about missing out on potential opportunities for fun and growth. But in reality, there are only 24 hours in the day, only one of you, and no way for you to be in multiple places at once. Do not say yes to every single thing because of "FOMO" or because you're afraid of letting someone down. You have to do what is best for you to stay on top of your schoolwork and your own personal growth!
4. Prioritize
This can be as little as writing a list of tasks to complete for the day or as big as figuring out exactly who is or what are your priorities. We all want to say that school comes first and that our education is our number one priority a hundred percent of the time, and for the most part this is wonderful because investing in an education is investing in the rest of your life. But sometimes, we make exceptions and we have to. Sometimes we leave class early to go to work or skip class to finish homework for another class. Other times, we skip out on things for our friends and family. And even occasionally we are selfish and put ourselves before our job, our friends, our family, and our education. Find out what your priorities are and grow from them!
5. Make Time For Yourself
Being involved and staying busy can be both a blessing and curse. It is a great feeling to always have something to do and never be bored... but sometimes we need to be bored. Or at least, relaxing and just doing something by ourselves for ourselves. It's easy to get burnt out quickly when you're running from one commitment to the next. It's OK to take some time for yourself to lay in bed or work out or write or whatever makes you collect yourself and rejuvinate!
