Staying focused on ourselves is one of the most important, yet most difficult, accomplishments to attain while attending college. I started my college career off strong with two jobs, losing 27 pounds, and a strong relationship. I had A’s & B’s in my classes, healthy animals, and strong friendships but within the first few months everything fell out of place. Having two jobs while attending classes was affecting my study time, my fitness journey became limited, and spending time with my other half became almost impossible. I averaged a C in some of my classes and my favorite rat passed away, long term friends became distant and my parents divorced in the beginning of my college career.
College has been one of the most difficult and rewarding times in my life but every student has divergent experiences. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed on how to deal with college while trying to be yourself, here are some helpful tips and advice that I have found useful.
Develop Routines
Each semester sets a different tone; you have to get used to new teachers, new syllabi, new classmates, and set a new study routine. Dedicate your class time to class, develop a study routine based on your schedule and stick with it, attend group study sessions with friends and classmates, or visit the Student Success Center and get free help from tutors and teachers. Life is full of changes and college is no different, attending college itself is a very big change and keeping yourself from being discouraged is important and a good routine will help with that. The routine I followed was a jumble that threw me all over the place. My organization skills were at the low end of the spectrum, a problem I didn’t see until someone in my life pointed it out and I’m forever grateful for the person who pointed this out to me as it saved me lots of stress before entering a serious allied health program.
Limit Social Media
Social media has a way of becoming addicting and affecting your life. People can alter the way their lives appear and convince others how perfect or horrible their life is going. Perhaps your life isn’t going as you hoped and reading on Facebook, or other social media, how well other people lives are going could have the potential to bring you down. After all, if someone cannot handle their own life then they may not be able to handle another person’s life. Social media also occupies your time with games and a constant desire to stay up to date with posts and responses. Every second of college is important, don’t waste your energy on the unimportant.
Surround Yourself with Positivity
Negativity will somehow always follow and catch up with us whether you’re a college student or not. There will be those days when we receive a low grade, have a fallout with our classmates or friends, get annoyed at our instructor, have a bad day at work, etc. As a college student we need to keep our eye on the prize. Lots of people dream of having the opportunity to attend college and right now we have been given that chance to enhance our lives in so many ways. The negativity of other people can rub off on you and it’s important to not let that dictate your life and to remove the negativity that is dragging you down.
Don’t forget to treat yourself as well, do something therapeutic to remind yourself of the joys of life and what you’re struggling for. Most importantly, Think Positive.
Have a college tip that could be useful? Do you have a story you want heard that could benefit other students? Email me some ideas! This is your campus, let’s all encourage each other to keep reaching for the end of the tunnel.
I See the Light,
Antonina Martorano
Student Blogger, Bullhead City Campus
(For more information on how the Student Success Center can help you 24/7 Tutoring, Life Support, and many of your other college and life goals, click the link.)