After being welcomed into university life with excitement, socialising and a drink in hand, it has come to the time where everything seems to be getting on top of you. University is extremely overwhelming; being heavily dependent on my family, it was difficult being pushed headfirst into adulthood.
I’m currently staring at an assessment map – 5 lingering deadlines staring back at me on my pin board. It can be more than stressful when you have several assignments to submit, external work to commit to and wanting that university social life too. To ease this feeling and reduce my inner stress, I have been doing a few things recently to help me keep a balanced lifestyle and maintain my initial happiness when I first moved to Lincoln.
My number one tip if you’re feeling stressed it to REACH OUT. Whether that be to a family member, close friend or even watching a video on the internet, reaching out to someone can be the best thing to help set your mind to a better state.
A few years ago, I always thought that letting out my feelings puts stress on other people and pushed my problems onto their lives. This cannot be more wrong; just by chatting to your best mate about your workload and how you’re feeling can help to relieve built up emotions. It is okay to cry when things get too much – I am generally an emotional person so I tend to cry if I get overwhelmed, but speaking your problems aloud will, for sure, take a little weight off your shoulders.
The Student Wellbeing centre are great for support too. Remember, you are NEVER alone.
Take some time out for yourself. I know it is super cliché to say, ‘have a pamper evening’ or ‘make a hot drink and watch a cute film’ but you need to schedule some ‘YOU TIME’. However, rather than just slapping on a face mask and sipping your cuppa, have a little reflection on what you want to achieve.
My stress right now is purely through my university workload and deadlines being met. Thus, I’m using my ‘me-time’ to remind myself why I’ve decided to come to university to motivate me rather than giving up to the pressures. My personal aspirations include working for the police force, having a career within crime scene investigation and bringing justice to suffering families so thinking about this when times are stressful encourage me to keep going so I can achieve my goals.
I’m obsessed with list-making and organisation. Stay organised is my key to fulfilling a more stress-free haven. If I didn’t write down a list of tasks that I need to accomplish every day, then I would PANIC. It is such a refreshing feeling ticking off work, activities or appointments you’ve attended; scheduling your day to be productive is something I abide by and will always do throughout my student life.
A top tip for list-making is to not overload yourself – don’t overestimate yourself and write 13 things on your list when you have a day full of lectures. Make a list of achievable tasks that you know you can try to stick to as much as possible for the day ahead.
Finally, either set a time of day or an evening in the week where you purely schedule it to do whatever you want. For instance, on a week day, I’ve told myself to stop doing work from 8 o’clock onwards. This works in favour for myself as I cannot concentrate in the evenings when I know I have early morning lectures the following day.
It also allows time for me to write my blog posts, edit my videos and catch up on TV series before falling asleep. Over the first semester of university, I’ve found that when I’m working into the evening, I struggle to sleep as my mind is so energised. Choosing a specific time to stop working has allowed my brain to settle down and try to regulate a decent sleeping pattern.
Hopefully, these tips will help you to leave a more stress-free life at university.
- Topics
- Stress
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