Student Blog: Times Are Hard For Dreamers

Without a doubt, March is always the busiest month. And smack dab in the middle of March is Spring Break, every college student's favorite holiday. But for some of us, Spring Break isn't really even a break. So the question remains: With so much going on, what are some of the ways to find calm amidst the chaos?

1. Create A Schedule

It seems simple enough right? Creating a schedule is probably one of the easiest ways I've found to keep everything together and organized. I use Google Calender to plan out my week, including things like classes, due dates, rehearsals, work shifts. I prefer Google Calender because I can assign a color to everything, which makes tracking the due dates much easier because they stand out. Having your schedule layed out like this is also helpful becuase you can easily identify moments of free time (if you have any, that is).

2. Breaking It Down

At this point in the year, I'm sure many of us have recieved our final projects, which usually contain a lot of components and will end up being a huge chunk of our final class grades. But break it apart into smaller chunks. If you have a 15 page paper due, maybe write a paragraph at time. Or a page, depending on when it's due. Setting these small goals is a great way to keep everything from feeling so overwhelming.

3. Taking It One Day At A Time

As the year goes on, it can feel like so many things begin to overlap and there's never a moment to catch your breath. But by taking everything one day at a time, you assume a different mindset. Write the reflection you have due tomorrow, don't worry about your test next week. And soon, all that time you used to spend stressing will become time you can use to get ahead on those other assignments. Or, down time you can use as a break. Either way, that time is now yours, not your anxiety's.

4. Asking For Help

This can be a difficult one. But you should never be afraid to ask for help. Your professors are here to help you. Communicate with them, tell them what's going on in your life and together you can work towards a solution that will benefit everyone. This becomes especially important during things like tech week, when so much of your time and energy is going into a show that you may miss a due date or not be fully present in class or even absent. Which is the perfect segue into my next point...

5. Take A Break

As human beings, we do not need to work ourselves to death, although it can definitely feel like we have to. Listen to your body. Be sure to stay hydrated, eat throughout the day and get plenty of rest. And, if necessary, take the day off! Most schools have absences built into their classes for this reason. Take the day and do what you need to do so you can come back able to put 100% into anything and everything you're doing.

6. Learn To Say No

This can be another difficult one, but it's important to establish boundaries for yourself and be able to stick to them. You should always be aware of how much time and energy you're devoting to other projects before you agree to take on another one. I know it can be hard saying no to helping people that are close to you, but sometimes you have to say no in order to maintain your sanity.

7. Celebrate The Small Things

With everything going on in our lives, it can feel like every assignment, every goal we're working towards is life or death. And maybe sometimes it is, but most of the time, it isn't Taking time to celebrate the small victories is a great way to slow down and realize that you are capable of so much more than you think you are, and a great lead up to finishing those major tasks.

Eventually, these tools become ingrained in your daily routine, and everything should (hopefully) become much easier to manage. They have definitely helped me this year and I've felt so much better about everything going because of it. And Spring Break comes to end...

Tech Week begins!

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