Dos
- Nap
Naps have saved me multiple times, especially during my senior year of high school and my first year of college. I would come home from school and immediately go to my bed for a nap. Sometimes it would look like a power nap, and other times it would turn into a session of REM sleep, the ones where it felt like a fever dream. Now that I’m in college, I realize that it’s a grown-up version of kindergarten, complete with naps. Every college kid that I’ve met takes naps after their classes, and I don’t shy away from this routine. I’ve learned to squeeze in two-hour naps before I go out with friends, or a quick thirty-minute one before volleyball practice. Either way, naps aren’t something that you should be afraid of utilizing to optimize your productivity.
- Learn how to spend time with yourself
One of the most common things I hear people at college say is “I’ve never eaten at a dining hall alone before.” When I first heard it, I stared at the person who spoke, brows raised, because what do you mean you’ve never eaten alone? Most of my lunches were eaten alone, as the timing of my classes didn’t match up with any of my friends, and I often used my lunches to catch up on podcasts or watch an episode of my favorite TV show. I quickly realized that I was comfortable being alone, something that I learned from hours spent reading, crocheting, and running alone. There’s nothing wrong with doing those things with people, but it becomes an issue when you can’t do those things alone. So with this in mind, I beg, please get used to spending time with yourself. It could look like getting coffee or sitting in the sun alone, but building this habit helps you out when you go to college, and you eventually have to suffer through dining hall food alone.
- Try new things
Please don’t be one of those people who don’t step out of their comfort zone because they’re afraid of failure. Just don’t. Try the activity, suck at it, but you never know, you might end up liking it. This was another thing realized in college, when I decided to do the most humbling thing possible: try out a new sport. I had gotten emailed by a handball coach, and I was ignoring the mass messages that the club had sent out, perfectly content with playing volleyball once a week. But once I got a personalized email from the coach stating why he was trying to poach volleyball players, I decided that I was going to go. I quickly realized how over my head I was when the coach turned out to be a Serbian man with a thick accent trying to teach me footwork that seemed worlds apart from the one I was taught in volleyball. My fate was solidified when I was humbled by a petite girl with an unexpectedly strong arm, chucking a ball that met with my face. Did I go back? No. But did I learn that I was way more physically capable than I thought? Yes, and that pushed me towards picking up running as a hobby.
Don’ts
- Skip Class
If you take anything away from this blog post, let it be this: do not skip class. please. I beg of you. And before anyone argues anything about being sick, that is a valid reason to miss class. If you physically cannot make it to class without vomiting or passing out, please stay home and rest. But if you’re just skipping class because you feel like it, stop. Going to classes is so so so important, and they help you keep up with the material taught, and I don’t care if your teacher posts slides online or if she doesn’t care about attendance. You should go. Worst comes to worst, you sit through the lecture (which sometimes is the professor reading off slides), but at least you learned something new. Besides, what would you be doing with your time that’s more productive? Especially in college, where you’re paying for each class, you should try to sit through as many lectures as possible. I don’t care what it takes to get you to class, but if it’s possible to get there, and you feel good, then you should sit in the room and try to learn something. One thing, even if it’s just the name of the person next to you.
- Be a couch potato
Look, I know the urge. You’re busy all the time, and all that you wanna do is lounge on the couch and catch up on your favorite episode of whatever Netflix show you’re binge-watching. I’m not saying don’t do that, but maybe try to balance it with a side of moving your body, whatever it looks like. It doesn’t have to look like going on a run in eighty-degree weather, or the daunting task of going to the gym. It could be something as simple as dancing around in your kitchen while you wait for something to bake, or chasing after your dog while they have a ball in their mouth. Whatever movement looks like for you, please integrate some into your day. I’m not saying that it has to be daily, especially when there’s none in your routine, but try to add some into your everyday routine. Movement helps you refresh your mindset, operate at your best, and can sometimes recharge you for the day.
– Tanvi