As this semester comes to and end, and due dates start to creep up on us, this is a very important piece of advice I want to share with anyone who is willing to listen. You may have heard this many times before, but I want to emphasize how crucial this is.
At this exact time last year, I was finishing my sophomore spring semester in college, which I can say was a complete and utter mess. I was taking three writing enriched classes along with three other classes that required many hours of studying and several exams. It was the first time in my entire college experience that I could say I was questioning my ability to go on. Would it always be like this? Would it get worse from here on out? I finished with an amazing GPA, but I was so drained emotionally and physically that it didn't even matter. I knew that something had to change because I could never do that again.
After coming home for summer and having a long, tear-filled conversation with my mom, she told me that my issue was that I did not give myself any time to sit back and relax. I told her that it was nearly impossible to do so, and she told me I wouldn't know until I tried.
I went into my junior fall semester petrified, but I was willing to test my mom's advice and start doing little things to ensure I was putting myself first over school. I began planning daily schedules, which included the amount of work or studying I'd get done that day, along with how much time I could give myself to wind down. I began taking naps, which honestly was the best decision I made for myself. I started going to the gym more often to relieve stress and sometimes, take my anger out. I even made some spontaneous trips to the mall, to get dinner or ice cream and even once to go to Eastern State Penitentiary around Halloween with my roommates. Ordinarily, these activities only took an hour or two out of my day but literally saved my well-being and allowed me to put myself first.
I know we feel like our professors think their assignments are our only priorities (and sometimes, we're probably right to make that judgment), but we need to start understanding that our mental health and well-being is far more important than whatever test or paper you have to do. I am not saying that we need to ignore our assignments, hop on a plane and fly to Disney World, even though we really want to. I am saying that a couple of hours to yourself a day can really save your life, and keep your motivation stronger. I feel like this is something I should have been able to realize on my own, but it is so easy to get so caught up in our lives and to forget what really goes first: ourselves.
