How To Find Balance
Someone once told me, “If you’re ever stressed out because you have so many things to do, then just do them”. When I heard this, I thought to myself, Well, sure. I’ll just do them, because then I won’t have to worry about them anymore… but what if that just makes me more stressed?
Well, it did. Taking that advice, I jumped to my to-do list and decided I’d try to get everything done all at once. I thought, if I get all of this done now, I won’t have the fear that everything will pile up and stress me out later. Sure - I got my work done, but I was cranky, it wasn’t my best work, and I was not enjoying my time. It was undoubtedly not the proper way to handle stress.
One thing I’ve learned is that schoolwork or any work in general is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. In fact, there is a lot of gradual hard-work that goes into marathon training and endurance. But a crucial part of that training are the rest days, because the more you ask of your body and mind, the more you need to give it.
If there’s one thing that this pandemic has taught us it’s that we need to take our foot off the gas pedal. It is important to slow down, stop, and regroup. In finding a balance between work and rest, you will avoid burning out and maybe even find that doing badly on one test or paper is okay in the grand scheme of things.
Here are some key ways I endeavor to achieve a balanced day:
Make lists of priorities - I find that if I list out what I need to get done for the day, and for the week - ranking them from what’s most important to least important - I have a better sense of how I can schedule my time throughout the day and week in order to eventually get it all done, or at least get done what is most important to me. Although I don’t always follow those lists, they still provide some structure and guidance to start off a day/week with balance in mind.
Carve out time for breaks - This isn’t something I do everyday, but when I have a large project, or need to spend a long period of time on something, I give myself small increments of time to step away from it so that I can keep up my mental energy. Try breaking down your work day into smaller increments to be more productive and find balance in your time management.
A break might mean setting a timer and napping for 20 minutes. Or maybe a break looks like giving yourself a night to watch your favorite TV show after dinner instead of studying (which is especially beneficial after a long day filled with classes and meetings). A break might even mean putting on your favorite Beyonce song and having a dance party. Your break can be customized to what you and your body need that day.
Remind yourself that it’s okay – Don’t beat yourself up if you’ve spent time watching an episode of Gossip Girl on Netflix or vacuuming your whole apartment. You probably needed it. Practice this and know that giving yourself the freedom to use your time in other ways than completing school work does not mean you are working against yourself - you are working with yourself. You are giving your mind what it needs. And that’s okay.
Sometimes it’s hard to press on the breaks and slow down, but your mind can’t always take on so much at once. It needs time to catch its breath.
