How to beat the unhealthiness of being constantly busy
By Ben Hercik
Many college students have a lot of things that they need to juggle. Schoolwork, a job or multiple jobs, a social life and more. Just when you think that you have room to breathe, you get a 1500 word paper, seven assignments due by midnight and you have to write a thesis on why the dictionary should include the word ‘nudiustertian’ when the day before yesterday you didn’t even know that was a word. Students are often busy with some form of work, but take a step back and think, is this really healthy for me?
Being constantly busy affects people in different ways. Before I made a change, I was one of those students that was constantly working on something for one class or another. I wouldn’t have time to hang out with friends, have a job or sometimes, I didn’t have time to even eat. Then I would go overboard and eat too much. This caused a huge weight gain for me, and I would want to change my ways, but once again, I didn’t have the time to do anything about it. This is the unhealthy effect busyness had on me personally, and I wanted to make a change.
While my change was a little more drastic than others (changing my major), it was something that needed to be done. With this change, I also started to try and do more in the field. Now, I write for a website plus I host my own podcast. How is it that now I have time for stuff like this?
Two words: time management.
I’m the type of person who likes having things to do. Right now, I have five jobs, including school and being a section editor for this paper. The way I’m able to juggle all of these things is I’ve learned that my issue was time management. Busyness isn’t the problem; it’s how you manage the 24 hours in a day, especially for college students.
As college students having to juggle so many things, time management is a very important skill. Say that you do have a paper that is due in a week, you don’t have to write it all at the last minute. Take it a paragraph or two at a time, and it becomes a lot less stressful for a student. A lot of students push things to the last minute, and they end up pulling an all nighter just to get their work done. As someone who has done plenty of all nighters in his pursuit of higher learning, these nights take a toll on you. You get moody. Things that would be simple for you normally become as complicated as trying to explain what the word ‘the’ means. I’ve had several bouts with sleep deprivation, and since I’ve started managing when I do what, I haven’t had that problem anymore.
Whether you’re a senior getting ready for your final semester of college or a freshman still in your first year, you need to learn how to manage your time. It is a lot healthier and a lot less stressful for your college experience when you have time management. Don’t try and go crazy and micromanage every minute of your day, rather take it in chunks. Take a few hours to work on one thing, and then take the next couple hours to work on something else. The ability to manage your time correctly is a very important skill that will make your college experience easier.