You know how you sometimes can’t wait for school to start again because summer is just getting too long? Yeah, nobody knows that feeling. Classes starts, the reading is piling up, homework is getting harder and harder and there really isn’t time to maintain a social life led alone anything else. Trying to divide yourself into so many sides can very easily become really stressful and overwhelming until the point you just want to curl up in a blanket staring at you TV the entire day and just ignoring the outside world. Well, that’s not healthy for you either. Grad school is hard but when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and so should you!
Take Care of Your Health
This is essential. It’s a well known fact that in high stress situations people tend to cut corners, pull all-nighter, drink loads of sugar and caffeine infused energy drinks and let’s face it- the fast-paced student diet isn’t really the healthiest thing in the world. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that working out is so out of the picture by that point. What students often times don’t understand is that this is wearing their organism down- in high stress situations the body is not at its full capacity. When you count in the poor diet, no exercise and very little sleep, it ends up being a recipe for potential disaster. Make sure to get enough sleep, and at least walk every day or go running. It won’t take you a lot of time but your body will benefit from it greatly.
Stop and Rewind
When it gets too much, you will most probably just feel overwhelmed and completely shrug everything to the side basking in your misery. Wrong! When you realize you have got in over your head, stop for a second. Take a short break and don’t think about anything school related. Meditate, take a relaxing bath or massage and then come back to your obligations. If you have a heavy course load, lots of extracurriculars and want to maintain a modest social life, it will require planning. So print out a weekly schedule of all the things you want have to do. Literally write everything down to the smallest thing- having it physically in front of you will show you how much time you actually need and how much you often times waste without even realizing it.
Plan Out Your Studying
As you should have a plan with your weekly obligations and activities, the same should be done for your studying. Take notes at classes and consult with other colleagues on dividing the workload and sharing study guides. Even though it is inevitable sometimes, try not to skip too many classes- you might fall behind, but you could also leave a bad impression on your professor and getting well acquainted with the faculty is a very important thing while you’re in grad school; their help might be much needed in your future academic career.
Don’t Forget to Socialize
This is one of the most important things that will get you through the day. It is easy to get carried away with computer work with all the papers and assignments you will most probably have to write, but make time to see your friends, fellow students and your significant other. Having someone to tell all your worries to will help clear your head and cool down the nerves.
