When starting college, it can sometimes be very stressful. This is a time of immense growth and change. It is important that when you are starting college that you are able to find a school-life balance that is healthy.
Often times, college students will find themselves procrastinating on their studies and then pulling all-nighters the day before an exam. When you are in college you need to set up habits that help you to be successful and to enjoy your personal life, while also being able to focus on your studies.
What Does a Healthy School-Life Balance Look Like?
People typically associate a healthy school-life balance as prioritizing school works and neglecting a personal life. This can actually have negative impacts on a student’s overall performance in school. It is important to have a personal life while taking college classes because it is necessary for your overall well-being.
By maintaining a healthy personal life, you are able to devote time to spending time with friends, building relationships with peers, and taking time to exercise. If those get neglected, your emotional health and physical health can start to suffer. This is especially common in rigorous course studies.
This does not suggest that you spend more time hanging out with friends and neglect your studies. It does mean that you work to find a balance that is right for you.
Time Management
When trying to find a healthy balance between your course studies and a personal life, time management will be your best friend. While you may not be able to do everything, with time management you will be able to accomplish a lot more
Start each day with writing down a list of things you need to get done. This can range from fitness activities, homework, and even personal obligations. Writing everything down helps to prevent you from letting things get forgotten. It also helps you to visualize what you have to accomplish.
It also is a good idea to have a weekly overview and even a monthly overview. This can help you keep track of your exams, homework due dates, etc. and you can start to build your life around the tasks that are set in stone.
Procrastination
It is easy to slide into procrastination, but you should try to avoid it as much as possible. Everyone, even the most productive people deal with procrastination, so do not beat yourself up when it happens. Just move forward and look for ways to prevent yourself from procrastinating in the future.
Time management is a big help to avoiding procrastination. It also helps to be honest with yourself and to know what areas cause you to fall into procrastinating. It may even help you to schedule out time to procrastinate.
Final Thoughts
While making an effort in your school work is important, it is equally important to be patient with yourself. Making mistakes is part of life and failure does happen. It is not about the failures, so much as it is about how you recover from them.
Taking time for self-care is an important part of the college experience. Learning your limits and being able to set boundaries will be vital to maintaining a healthy school-life balance and eventually a work-life balance.
