Stress of college and managing it!

Here is my second post dealing with tips and stories about school and college. First off, if you haven’t read my “Tips from a college kid to a college kid” post, I would read that one before this one.

Let me start this off by telling you exactly what my weekly schedule has been this semester…college classes are either 50 min three days a week or an hour and 15 min two days a week, there are other classes that are slightly different as well but I won’t get into that.

On Mondays, I have a class at 9:05 a.m then another one following at 10:10 a.m. Right after my classes, I try to eat some lunch before I got to work from 11:50 a.m. until 3 p.m. Fortunately I have nothing after that unless I decide to workout for an hour which I normally do.

On Tuesdays, I have a lab class from 9 a.m. until 10:50 a.m., this class is longer because it’s only one day a week. I also usually get my work done by at least 10:30 and can leave after that. Following that I have another class at 11 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. After my classes I go do my workout, eat then get ready to go to work from 3:30  until 8 p.m. I watch other people’s kids while they workout in our campus rec center, believe me, I love children but most days when I work this shift (every Tue.)  want to pull my hair out! Anyways, I am literally on campus for like 12 hours out of my day!

On Wednesdays, I have the same classes as I do on Mondays, but following my 10:10 class, I meet with my editor (I write for my school magazine as well) and  I also have another class at noon that last until 2:30 p.m. (once again only one day a week). After my classes, I normally do my workout and probably run errands with my mom. I can relax after that though and I usually get to do so with my boyfriend, Chris 🙂

On Thursdays, luckily I only have one class which is my 11 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. class, of course after that, i do my usual workout-eat routine before going to work from 3-10 p.m., I am once again on campus for 12 hours of my day and 7 of those are at work. My co-workers make it fun though, we all joke, share food and laugh. Believe me, once I get home, I am in my bed!

On Fridays, I once again have the same 9:05 and 10:10 classes. I usually eat lunch with my mom on Fridays too (she works in the same building I do on campus). After I eat, if I feel like it, I will workout, but I also go to work from 3-6 p.m. Also, I usually do something on Friday night too whether it be getting into something with Chris, relaxing with Chris or getting into something with friends.

I don’t work in the rec center on weekends thankfully, however when it’s my week to write something for the magazine, I am usually spending my Saturday covering an event and writing my story, whatever I don’t finish, I do on Sunday and turn it in. I am also usually with Chris on Saturday nights and Sundays which I try to relax as much as possible but sometimes it’s not so easy.

Enough of my day by day boring schedule lol. My point here is I KNOW STRESS! As you can see, I am always doing something…on top of everything I do, I have homework and projects as well and one of my classes requires me to film, edit and write a script on an event every 2 weeks, I’ve done 4 since the end of August and have one more due (my final) in a little less than a month.

Which brings me to tests and finals week! High schoolers, EQTs, grad exams and the ACT literally have nothing on finals week in college. Finals are our EQT tests but are harder and require hours of study time and most of the time all of your classes have one in the SAME WEEK! This is the time we college kids PRIORITIZE…meaning we study more for the classes we care about more or think we need more. Let me just add that coffee is my best friend during this time! But…I am an avid coffee drinker anyways ( if you like coffee now, you will LOVE it in college).

Now I know what all of you are thinking, if you do so much, why don’t you give something up? Unfortunately, it is not that easy for me. I don’t work for my luxury, I work because I save up to get my family something for Christmas, but mainly, I have a car I pay for myself which I am very proud of. My car is a 2013 and my story on how I got it is not the best one so I’ll save that for another day. My rec center job is minimum wage, $7.25, where I live and the magazine gives me an extra $80 on my paycheck which for my car is 2 full tanks of gas. My parents are very proud of me for keeping up with my car note, never being late and keeping gas in my car. However I am thankful to be able to do so.

Anyways, back to my point on stress. A lot of you are probably wondering why I don’t exercise less. Well there’s 2 answers for this one… I want to stay healthy would obviously be an answer which I don’t eat bad all the time, sure I occasionally have a blizzard from DQ and some fries from checkers, but I keep my junk to weekends only and my snacking on min. level. But exercising also helps me manage my stress levels, which I’m sure most of you have heard of before. If I’m worried about a project, I run or lift some weights and feel better about everything that’s going on and also feel better about myself!

If exercising isn’t your thing, there’s no shame in it. Spending time with friends and family can help, taking time for yourself – if you’re a girl, go shopping if you have extra money, get your nails done or dress up wear some heels and  make-up and go out with the girls. If you’re a guy – play some sports – have a football day with the guys or a beer, or 5, lol. Guys, you can “pamper” yourself too, get haircut or go get yourself a nice pair of shoes (tennis shoes or whatever you like to wear).

There’s many other ways stress can be handled the right way, find what works for you!

Thanks for reading ladybugs and manbugs! 🙂