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Health and Wellness

10 Tips For College Students: How To De-Stress Your Life

It's midterm season, people. Let's talk about mental health.

Isabella Piacentino

Mar 05, 2020

Temple University

344

10 Tips For College Students: How To De-Stress Your Life

https://kaboompics.com/photo/6887/starting-work-from-bed

If stress is causing you to rip your hair out, I got you. As a seasoned college veteran (I'm a junior by the way), I've learned to incorporate certain routines and activities into my life to reduce stress. Hopefully, they help you too!

1. Transfer syllabus assignments into your planner.

https://kaboompics.com/photo/13768/a-woman-writes-in-a-calendar

Don't ruffle through each class's syllabus every day! Take the time to sit down and transfer all the homework, assignments, and projects into one place. Whether you use a paper planner or electronic calendar, this tip will allow you to easily view your daily to-do lists. So, take a few hours and play your new favorite album or Netflix obsession (I recommend "Sex Education") and get organized!

2. Color code your life!

https://pixabay.com/photos/planner-planning-plan-calendar-3485992/

If you're like me, you have an unnecessary amount of colored pens and highlighters. Lucky for you because these will only make it easier to organize your life! Assign a color to your classes, clubs, job, and leisure activities. If you want to color code different types of assignments, like putting big projects in red and homework in blue, that's totally up to you. Customize this tip to what will make your life the most organized!

2. Set weekly reminders for big projects.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/notebook-page-with-illustration-911059/

Have you ever realized that you had a project due in a week? And it was assigned at the beginning of the semester?! To save yourself from any stress ulcers, set weekly reminders for long-term projects or papers. Depending on the depth and time given to a complete a project, you can choose how far back you would like to remind yourself of a due date. For example, if a project has five key parts you can split these responsibilities into the five weeks prior to the due-date. This way you will never forget about big projects again!

4. Highlight things you don't get to.

https://www.pickpik.com/highlighter-fluorescent-the-phrase-marking-pentacle-star-143458

Unfortunately, we don't always get to everything in the week. Assignments fall to the wayside, discussion boards are forgotten, and sometimes emotional breakdowns get in the way of doing any work. That's okay! Pick a highlighter color and mark these missed assignments so you can remind yourself to complete them in the future.

5. Work in order of immediacy.

https://kaboompics.com/photo/4320/woman-working-on-a-laptop-while-enjoying-a-breakfast-coffee-and-chocolate-in-bed

This one may seem obvious, but when I've gotten overwhelmed with a mountain of assignments, working in order of the most immediate due date reduced my stress. In the blindness of stress, you forget that everything isn't due tomorrow. So take a deep breath and work on what is due for the next day. If you have a big project due at the end of the week (that you have not started because you did not listen to tip number three!), split this into small parts and move on to this after all your work for the next day is completed.

6. Start a wind-down routine.

https://kaboompics.com/photo/15394/sweaters-on-a-hanger

To make tomorrow a little smoother, do some things the night before. In the hour before you head to bed, pack your snacks, set out an outfit (check tomorrow's weather first!), pack your needed textbooks and materials, and glance at tomorrow's to-do list to check for any meetings or events. So, instead of scrambling in the morning, do these simple tasks to sleep easier.

7. Make planning fun!

https://www.pexels.com/photo/photo-of-planner-and-writing-materials-760710/

Sticky notes, colored pens, markers, and stickers can spice up your planner and make organizing your life a creative activity. Use sticky notes for events or assignments you're not sure of so that you're not writing directly on the paper. Add stickers as a substitute for writing or to beautify your planner. Put on some music, grab a snack, and plan!

8. White-Out Dispenser. Period.

https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-hello-2019-notebook-on-brown-wooden-surface-1937337/

If you decide not to use my sticky note method, you might run into the issue of crossing out mistakes and misprints. Why take up unnecessary space and clutter your mind with ugly scribbles when you can make it look like it never happened? So use your white-out dispenser and get on with planning.

9. Organize fun and leisure into your life.

https://www.everypixel.com/search?q=laugh&orientation=1&stocks_type=free&image_id=4348466924766893770

Did you think I wasn't going to talk about something other than schoolwork? You can't reduce your stress if you're always focused on what's making you stressed: school! Make time for yourself, hang out with friends, go roller-skating, paint, exercise, or make a vision board on Pinterest. Just like you make time for school and work, prioritize yourself as well.

10. Study Buddy!

https://www.pexels.com/photo/people-coffee-meeting-team-7096/

You don't have to always be crammed in your room doing homework! You can also incorporate friends into your school life. Studying is more fun and helpful when you and your friends are working towards a goal together and supporting each other along the way. Rent out a study room, grab an iced coffee, share ideas, and get down to business!

I hope these tips help to de-stress your life. Also, think about how you won't remember these stressful items on your to-do list in a year.

College is tough, but you are resilient and worth so much more than any assignment or grade.

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10 Tips For College Students: How To De-Stress Your Life

It's midterm season, people. Let's talk about mental health.

1. Transfer syllabus assignments into your planner.

2. Color code your life!

2. Set weekly reminders for big projects.

4. Highlight things you don't get to.

5. Work in order of immediacy.

6. Start a wind-down routine.

7. Make planning fun!

8. White-Out Dispenser. Period.

9. Organize fun and leisure into your life.

10. Study Buddy!

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10 ways to prepare for finals week—beginning with getting to the library.

Who knows where we would be without them.

1. Thank you for laughing at my jokes, even when they really aren’t funny.

2. Thank you for singing unbearably loud with me all the time.

3. Thank you for letting me vent to you for hours about anything and basically being my personal therapist.

4. Thank you for ordering pizza with me at 2 in the morning.

5. Thank you for all the movie days when we don’t feel like moving.

6. Thank you for being my workout buddy everyday.

7. Thank you for sharing your closets with me.

8. Thank you for taking naps with me at random hours during the day.

9. Thank you for cleaning our home with me when we absolutely need to.

10. Thank you for all the rides when it’s late and you don’t want me to walk home alone in the dark.

11. Thank you for studying with me in our kitchen when we didn't want to go the library.

12. Thank you for making dinner with me.

13. Thank you for helping with my hair, makeup and outfit every time we go out.

14. Thank you for taking countless ugly pictures with me.

15. Thank you for not judging me when I go too long without showering.

16. Thank you for making our apartment feel like a second home.

17. Thank you for being there through all of our boy troubles.

18. Thank you for giving me a hug when I feel homesick.

19. Thank you for getting excited with me when one of us gets a good grade on an exam.

20. Thank you for still being my friend and not judging me when I say or do dumb things.

21. Thank you for telling me what I should do when I am sick.

22. Thank you for dancing horribly with me everywhere we go.

23. Thank you for staying up super late with me when we aren’t tired or can’t sleep.

24. Thank you for being super weird with me.

25. Thank you for all the unforgettable college memories.

26. And most of all, thank you for being the best friends a girl could have.

I may or may not be stressing right now.

1. "What do I have to study for?"

2. "What class do I need to study for the most?"

3. "I’m going to ace this."

4. "Focus!"

5."I have no idea what I'm reading."

6. "I should call my smart friend about this."

7. "I’m going to fail. I’m going to fail."

8. "I’m dropping out of school."

9. "What grade do I have to get on the final to pass the class?"

10. "Oh, no, I have to do good."

11. "I shouldn’t have procrastinated all semester."

12. "I wanna go to bed."

13. "We did not learn this!"

14. "I should go get food."

15. "Why do we even have finals?"

16. "I don’t want to be at the library."

17. "Get off your phone."

18. "I can watch Netflix for like 20 minutes and then go back to studying."

19. "I shouldn’t have watched Netflix."

20. "You have to study now!"

The "Happiest Place on Earth" has a lot of characters with some pretty great advice.

Remember you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine. — Snow White

The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. — Rafiki

You don't have time to be timid. You must be bold and daring. — Lumière

If watching is all you're gonna do, then you're gonna watch your life go by without ya. — Laverne

Sometimes the right path is not the easiest one. — Grandmother Willow

Always let your conscience be your guide. — Jiminy Cricket

To infinity and beyond. — Buzz Lightyear

Life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved. — Pooh

Let it go. — Elsa

If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all. — Thumper

Today's special moments are tomorrow's memories. — Genie

It's a time of love, family, memory-making, and gift-giving. But also a time of stressing over the perfect gift.

Money

Socks

Blankets

Gift Cards

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