Alexa Di Palermo, Staff Writer |
Think about yourself for a minute. Think of a time within the past two months of school that you have felt like you could not finish everything you had to do, like you had no time for yourself. A time where your stress built up and hit its peak…think about that feeling. Now know that you are not alone.
Being a college student, it can be easy to lose the balance of what is truly important. We have a million things to do, and a few things we’d like to do for ourselves, yet there are never enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks at hand. It can be hard to create a balance between everything we have to do and everything we want to do, but it is not impossible.
At the end of our fall break, I decided to go to the Art of Relaxation hosted by the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) and the Counselling Center. Emily Phelps, the Director of the GSRC, educated us about time management.
We began by talking as a group about what our main stressors were. The group’s general consensus was that we were all overwhelmed and afraid of academic failure. A majority of us are perfectionists, but even those who are not striving to be perfect still have set standards for themselves that they would like to reach. This creates pressure to constantly be pushing ourselves to think out of the box academically, but the reality is that there are times where we cannot.
It is important to take a step back and care for yourself. Do what you are capable of, not what you wish to be capable of. When looking at your values versus how you actually spend your time, does it match? If not (which for most of our group, it did not), what can you do to incorporate your values into your daily life more?
In my case, although I do value my schoolwork, I value my personal alone time more. Looking at how I actually spend my time, alone time is something I do the least out of all my tasks. I can create more alone time for myself by staying in for a few nights, going on walks, and sitting outside while I still can!
It’s important in this stage of our lives to forgive ourselves and make time for the things that we need. Although grades are important, our mental and physical health is more important. It may be hard to break habits at first, but it’s okay to say no, even to yourself. Growth is not a linear process, there are ups and downs. But it’s important to continue to believe in yourself and your ability to do better.
If you need any help, feel free to reach out to the Counseling Center at 607-436-3368 or look at their webpage for additional resources.
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