Everyone says college is the best time of your life.
“You get to go out every weekend with your best friends”
“Your professors will become your mentors”
“No pressure from family”
All those people who told me these things were practically useless. I do not go out every weekend with my friends, but instead go on an hour and a half run with them.
My professors have not become my mentors, but some people I randomly met on campus have.
And I do have pressure from my family because I am the eldest of nine children which includes mainly females.
College is said to be the best times in our lives, but they can also be the most taxing, stressful, and busiest times leading to a whole lot of self-care.
I am a D1 Track student athlete, full-time 18 credit a semester senior, part time busser at one of the best steakhouses in Raleigh, part time sales rep for a hyper growth tech start-up, and folks….that isn’t even half of the hats I wear.
To survive the day I need to learn how to juggle these hats. Here is how to help if you are dealing with the busiest time in your life:
- Break down how much time you spend on each activity.
- If you need a breather, take a breather. Most professors (especially in my psych department) are perfectly fine with you taking a step out. If you are at work, go to the bathroom and decompress.
- Find a community to keep you anchored.
- Drink a whole lot of tea.
- Set up an eating schedule.
- When you do have time to yourself, take it! Go out to dinner by yourself, grab a drink by yourself, read a book in complete silence, or even go to church by yourself. Being around people is exhausting especially when it comes to people being heavily involved in all your areas of life.
I am personally a huge advocate for taking time to myself even for someone who is a complete people person. When life gets you down, the person you need to take care of most is you! Get up, put on your war paint, and be the most unbelievably fantastic version of you there can be and you will be just fine.