Why?
In order not to go ape s*** under stress, that is!
This article is a collection of all the little things I do in order not to feel as good as possible in my everyday life. Those are very basic things that anyone can do and ever since converting to this way of living, I've been able to handle school better and more efficiently.
My tips:
MOST IMPORTANT: Sleep well and enough.
I used to be the one that wouldn't sleep for 2, 3 nights in a row in order to do some work for school. It used to work because my stress level was often high enough to give me the adrenaline I needed to push through when I was exhausted. I'd say to myself "Who cares that I'll be drained at the end of the week? My work will be over with anyway so I'll just have to sleep a ton afterwards in order to get better". Unfortunately, I've found overtime that it doesn't work like that.
I've found that sacrificing my sleep = sacrificing my mood = decrease in patience and productivity = frustration. Besides, when I don't sleep enough, I find that I get counterproductive in what I'm currently working on and late in what I'm leaving aside, which usually leads to me struggling with everything that is ahead of me.
What I do: Go to bed as early as I can - whenever I feel tired or whenever I don't feel productive anymore. It can be as early as 8:30 PM or as late as 11:30 but never later than that. I usually go to bed at 9-10 PM. I get up at 7:30 or 8:00 AM.
Eat healthy
As a student living in an apartment, I've found that eating right is a huge struggle sometimes. I don't have a lot of time to cook dinner and buying myself a lunch at school can be very tempting.
Dont's: eat the same thing all the time, eat at irregular hours, eat snacks all the time, eat fast food everyday at school (anything that you'd buy at the cafeteria that isn't a "proper" complete meal), drink loads of coffee/energy drinks.
What I do: I prepare myself a lunch nearly everyday. I always make mine the night before. I fill it with a lot of healthy snacks so that I always have something on hand that I can chew on if I'm hungry. Nuts, yogurt, fruit, veggies and granola bars are all good, so no need to feel guilty about eating them throughout the day! I never drink more than a coffee per day and I always drink it in the morning. I find that drinking more than one or drinking one past noon gives me headaches due to dehydration or keeps me from sleeping at night no matter how tired I am.
My diet is basically to stick to anything my parents used to feed me with when I was a kid. I don't bother with calories or anything - most of it is homemade and I only eat when I'm hungry anyway. I would avoid dieting at all costs when you're a student. You need a good, reasonable intake in order to function well and be productive!
Working out when you can
I used to work out 5-6 days a week but I don't have that much time anymore. Besides, it was a little too much for me anyway so I wouldn't recommend that. Since I remained in good shape ever since, I simply swim whenever I have a bit of time. It can be 3 times a week like it can be once a week or none at all. I just go whenever I have some spare time. It uplifts my mood, clears my head out and keeps my body in good shape.
See people!
Have a social life and go out(side). Working on assignments with friends increases my motivation in school. Seeing people for the sake of wasting some free time in between class can be good sometimes too. It clears my head and helps to decrease my stress. For instance, not seeing anyone during spring break and doing school work everyday nearly made me go nuts! A social environment is vital for my mood, so I'd definitely avoid doing homework and studying alone all day long, no matter how productive it might seem.
Staying trapped inside all day long doing homework really makes me moody. Going for a walk or running errands helps me with that. I also like to spend the evening with people sometimes. A pint at the pub never hurt anybody.
Quality time with (a) significant other(s)
Might be your best friend(s), your family or your boyfriend/girlfriend. In my case, it is my boyfriend. Making time for someone or other people requires that I'm productive at school and the prospect of a hangout cheers me up while I'm working towards it.
"My motto at school is 'make the most of it and don't look back.'"
Deal with the stress
My motto at school is "make the most of it and don't look back". Looking back makes me insanely stressed out because criticizing my every move in school leads me to believe that nothing I did was right or good enough. That would be extremely demotivating so I try to take one day at a time and tell myself that what I achieve is always a result of what I have to deal with. A bad performance in an exam can be explained by a busy week filled with assignments. Sometimes, there's nothing I can do about it but make the most of it and do my best and that's all that should matter.
That's all there is to it for now. Despite how simple it might be, it took me some time to figure all of this out. I used to have a bad diet, to never workout, to exhaust myself over sleepless nights and live as a slave of my own mood swings because I wasn't able to maintain my mood and keep up with school at the same time. I find this to be a good "recipe" to deal with school as a student. I'm pursuing a degree in engineering, if that gives you any indication.
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