In just a few weeks, many of us will be going back to school. One thing that is clear is that all of us are utterly unprepared every year when we arrive at school again. We come with excitements (seeing my girlfriend, seeing friends, meeting new people) and anxieties (work, school, studying, meeting new people). In the midst of this, we come up with a battle plan for dealing with these, whether it's allocating our time to certain tasks or establishing a consistent sleep pattern. If you're like me, this never works. Because you are a struggling college student, I have written this guide of easy-to-follow steps for you to better survive the beast and the beauty that is college.
1. Nap.
If you are one of the fortunate souls who consistently gets a good night of sleep, and consistently goes to bed early, this is not for you, so you can move to step two. For the rest of us, this is absolutely necessary. It has been proven that people our age release melatonin much later on average than adults, which means we naturally go to bed much later. Considering that colleges have not clued into this, and still have 8 a.m. classes (the bane of my existence), you will not get enough sleep during the night, period. You should take time out of your day to nap for 30 minutes. Studies have also shown that a nap this short can do wonders for your alertness and energy.
2. Study more.
You will want to do things like play frisbee, play Pokemon (the real thing, not this hipster Pokemon Go contraption), eat junk food, drink lots of coffee, play video games and more. This is okay; even the most productive people in history had hobbies. However, your grades matter. Your grades reflect your character, and if you are a hard worker at your job but a slacker in the classroom, it's the classroom that reflects who you are, not your job. You don't have to have a 4.0; in fact, I don't have one because I did the same thing I'm telling you not to do my first few semesters. Don't neglect your studies and look back with regret on how you acted academically.
3. Study less.
You might be wondering whether I am off my rocker (yes). However, step two and three can and must coexist. You will have friends, extracurricular activities, service projects, travels and more. These things are vitally important for you as a human being, so yes you must study more, but you must not study too much. Work hard on your grades, do your homework and reading, and then spend time doing things with the people you love! Schoolwork is incredibly important, but it is not all-important. Study more, and study less.
4. Don't sweat the small stuff.
I've been on both ends of the spectrum in regards to studying. I've engaged in marginal studying while dealing with severe self-induced introversion and anxiety in social settings. I've completely neglected friends for the sake of grades, and dealt with crippling anxiety regarding my academic and work performance in the process. Both of these circumstances were accompanied with bouts of depression, and neither of these approaches work. What I've learned is this: don't sweat the small stuff. In the grand scheme of life, making an 85 instead of a 92 is not that big of a deal. 10 years from now, you won't regret studying hard or spending time with friends. You will regret D's and F's in your classes, and you will regret not spending time with friends if you don't put forth an effort.
What I've learned is most important about college is something I've had to learn about life. This thing I've learned about life is that it goes on, until it doesn't. You can't control when it doesn't. You can't go back and change things, although many of us would change some things if we could. What we can change is our mindset. These things are not ultimate. We are not defined by our social life. We are not defined by our grades. If we allow ourselves to be defined by these things, we've settled for a terribly poor definition of life. You make a mistake? Fine, don't make it again, don't dwell on it and move on! You didn't study as much as you could? Fine, life goes on, just make sure to study more next time. These things are important things, but they are not the final things. Not even finals are final.
Don't sweat the small stuff. Life is far too valuable and far too short to do that.
