Balancing School with Life

This is for all of you workaholics out there, because life is not all about work! We humans need a little thing called rest if we want to keep our sanity and stay productive. I know a few people, myself included, who for a few years of their academic life went off the deep end. All assignments had to be perfect! All readings had to be completed! It was a little ridiculous (not to mention stressful). Sooner or later perfection is going to take up all of our time. School is not meant to be the end goal, it is supposed to be the beginning; a means to an end.

I hope you don’t take this the wrong way and drop all your books and fly to Mexico. That is not what I’m saying at all! What I want you to do is spend a reasonable amount of time on your studies, a reasonable amount of time on your job, and take the rest of the time and rest! Here are a few things that I think are beneficial to recharging those brain cells.

•          Spend time with your family: They should be a great source of encouragement. Most people feel very comfortable around their family and are then able to relax. They don’t have to be anyone but themselves. Family members can also be great for bouncing ideas off of. If you’re stressed about school, then ask a family member, and they will more than likely have a good answer for you. This should be a no pressure situation.
•          Spend time with friends: Friends are great for goofing off with and just plain old having fun. Try to get a group of friends together and just hang out or play a game.
•          Be active: Staying active is actually extremely beneficial for your brain. Exercise doesn’t have to be boring either. You can always get your friends together for a game of basketball or soccer.
•          Take summers off: I always tried to take the summers off from school. These extended breaks allow you to travel and simply take your mind off things. I’ve found that these times allow for multiple perspectives on school. It’s super refreshing!
•          Sleep: This is the first thing that goes when we get too busy. But sleep is vital to our brain functions and a lack of it can mess up our day. Take it from a guy who has tried to start the day on less than three or four hours of sleep (on multiple occasions). It is not pretty.

Most of this stuff is pretty simple, and there are probably a million other things you can do to balance work with life. I think that spending quality time with people after a good night’s sleep is a good place to start.