Living in today’s busy world, with mounting demands and added pressures to succeed, we sometimes lose sight of ourselves along the way. This is especially true in college. Moving away to college teaches you how to rely on yourself in tough situations, balance your schedule and take on more responsibilities. On top of grueling class assignments, midterms, and finals, living on your own comes with its own challenges. You’re now responsible for managing your schedule, balancing your life between your various obligations to achieve your goals, and learning how to navigate the world on your own. Along the way, it’s important to make friends and build a network to support you when things become overwhelming.

College also takes an emotional toll on you and teaches you to become more emotionally intelligent. Understanding how to identify and cope during times of stress is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned since being a freshman at college.

Since freshman year, my main strategy has been to take some time out for myself to recover when I am overwhelmed by the stress of my responsibilities.

However, this took me a long time to learn because those who struggle are sometimes stigmatized as being weak. Focusing on my ambitions over my emotional health and not recognizing the warning signs of needing to emotionally recover, the issues caught up with me. One day I was sitting in front of my computer trying to complete an assignment but I wasn’t able to process the task at hand. Outside of my school work, I was assembling a team for a fundraiser but the team was not cohesive no matter how hard I tried to correct this dynamic. The pressure to create a functional team became overwhelming and took over my thoughts because the deadline was fast-approaching. In that moment I knew I had to change my attitude towards reaching out for help because I was stuck. I couldn’t see the end of the tunnel and I didn’t know when this level of stress would pass. Yet, I knew I couldn’t continue down the same path because it wouldn’t lead me anywhere.

Taking time out is important because it helps you recover. Allowing yourself a given amount of time, whether it be an hour or a day, to recenter your thoughts can help you become more productive when you revisit your tasks. The beauty of taking time to yourself is the plethora of things to do from taking a walk, going on a run, taking a nap or even cooking for yourself.

It doesn’t matter what you do, so long as you enjoy it and can remove yourself from the stressful situation.