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A Student's Guide to Being Stress Free

How I Motivate Myself and Put My Health First

By Published 6 years ago 4 min read
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Stress that's caused from education and studying is often neglected by adults who underestimate the pressures that young people now go through. When I was younger, there was no one to give me advice or to even take me seriously when I suffered from stress early into my schooling. However, moving to university and being on my own enabled me to find the best, and stress-free, ways to live and study. Here are six things I do to ensure that I remain stress free at university...

Divide up your workload.

Chances are, at university you'll no longer have classes every Monday to Friday like you've been so used to having. This alone will be a lot of weight off of your shoulders. University is relaxed in this sense. They put all of the module materials online at the start of the year as they expect a majority of your learning to be done independently. I always get classes twice a week. Instead of sitting around socialising from dawn-'til-dusk, I dedicate a few hours to taking notes on days that I don't have classes. This not only enables me to get ahead on my reading (so if I sleep in and miss a lecture, I haven't missed a thing as I've already studied the topic), but it also benefits me in the long run as it's easier for me to remember the information that I study (because rather than looking at it twice a week I'm reading notes every day) and ensures that I'm always on track to meet my deadlines. Dedicating a short few hours a day to looking at your notes won't even feel like much work as you're probably so used to endlessly long school hours.

Branch out and meet new people.

If you're a fresher I can guarantee you that half of the people you meet during your first year or even your first week of university won't be the same friends that you have towards the end. Meeting different people who do other courses and have other interests than you do is a great aspect to university as the environment is usually diverse. Even if you meet a bunch of people on a drunken night out and you never see them again, trust me you'll have so much fun. You should branch out and meet new people regardless of if you made many friends the previous year or if you feel more comfortable sticking with your flatmates or classmates. Trust me, university is the easiest place to make friends as everyone is secretly hoping to.

Don't forget to contact home.

We often get caught up with "adulting" that we forget we actually have family and friends back home. Sometimes we're missing home or the people we moved away from without even realising and that can take form as additional stress on our shoulders. Try contacting the people you hung out with before university and keep them updated, or even visit home for a day or weekend (if you live within distance). If you can convince your parents to let you pack up some of their cooking to bring back with you, that's a bonus!

Buy things to motivate you.

Room decorations are essential. New notebooks, pens, folders, highlighters, a year planner—all of these things will keep you on track and motivate you to actually want to use them. It may seem like a waste of money to some, but I buy myself a nice planner, books, highlighters, and fairy lights to decorate my room every year. It not only makes my desk area look nice so I'll want to sit there, but having a year planner and carrying it everywhere with me ensures that I'll never forget or have to keep asking for deadlines or other important dates.

Break the study-party cycle.

Don't get yourself into a habit of going out every night, going to bed at 3 in the morning then having to wake up at 8:30 to make it to your early morning seminars only to do the same over and over. It may seem fun at first, but I promise you you'll quickly feel bored and drained. Take part in activities that aren't class related and something you can enjoy without the excruciatingly loud music and alcohol; go to the gym, join a society, get a job or volunteer (on or off campus). You'll, of course, meet other people doing so and you'll ease your mind over the constant torture of learning and partying over and over and over...

Get some sleep.

As students, we often (intentionally or not) neglect our health and our sleep in particular due to the constant buzz of things happening around us. In the day, we're distracted by friends and classes then at night we want to stay out and have fun. Don't be the one friend that doesn't know how to go home after a night out, wondering what the next move is when it's already 3 in the morning. Go. To. Sleep. Take a power nap when you have time between classes, or right before you start getting ready to go out. Don't just get the recommended eight hours, sleep until you're no longer tired; university is the one place where nobody will judge you for a 4 PM nap.

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