I was going to publish my “Things I Learned In My Freshman Year Of High School” blog post today, but it’s really long so I’m not done yet. This is gonna be a shorter post, but no less important.
With that said, this topic has been on my mind for a few weeks now. I’ve never considered myself a busy person. I’ve never needed to say no to things I wanted to do and am really good at time management, but my schedule this semester is packed full: both with school and personal responsibilities.
I had a friend in high school who said that he can’t wait for when he starts working because there will be a time to clock in and clock out of work. There’s no extra homework or studying (depending on your job). There is a time to stop working for the day.
I think most college students can relate to this because our lives are full of classes, studying, working to save money and pay off loans, social events, clubs, internships, etc. and live with that chaos for years. It’s one of the reasons anxiety is so common among college students.
I don’t think this really ever ends if you live in America. The American Dream now is basically: work work work, stay extra long hours, come in early, leave late, get in a lot of debt buying things you’re “supposed to” have. I recently read a blog post about the European Work-Life Balance and that’s the type of balanced life I want to live. Leaving work at a decent time, an hour to eat lunch and socialize, longer offline holidays… things like that.
I don’t like it when I have nothing to do, but a full life isn’t the same thing as a busy life.
Now that that rant is over, let’s get into the life update.
//School:
My classes don’t feel ridiculously difficult, but I’m taking 17 credit hours this semester from Monday through Thursday and I come home at around 8 o’clock on three of those days (I get home by 5 on Thursdays.)
The good thing about this is that I do nothing but relax when I get home. Because I spend so much time on campus, I finish all my homework, studying, blog work, and anything else I need or want to work on before I get home It’s one of the reasons y’all are getting blog posts regularly. I’m not at home feeling too tired to write and making excuses.
With that said, I have a lot more work and lab hours this semester, so I’m always “go-go-go” when I’m on campus. I barely have time to go to the gym. I’m still managing my time well, but I can see that I’m going to burn out eventually. I need to fix the system I have.
//Blogging
While I’m really proud of myself for publishing consistently, I think I need a new system for my blog. I’ve been doing the bare minimum: writing content. I haven’t been spending nearly as much time as I should on marketing, monetizing, etc.
One of my goals for this semester was to double my blogging income, which I think is a realistic goal seeing my recent spike, but I need to put more time and effort into monetizing. I have not been using the 80/20 principle (20% effort causes 80% of result) or even a 60/40 principle. I need to find a way to streamline my blogging process because while I’m doing more work with my blog, I’m not doing the right work for it.
//My Job
This is probably the biggest reason I’ve been so busy. I’ve gotten so many more students this semester and work more hours than I did last year. I’m very lucky that I control my own schedule because I would’ve been in over my head. The good thing is that I’m making more money, which’ll help pay for the three trips I have planned for the end of the year. This is actually a really good thing because even if my schedule is fuller, my time is spent productively.
//Social Life
I’m so glad that eid was at the beginning of the school year because I would’ve done nothing social otherwise. Every weekend there was a specific date and time I had to do something, so there was something I could work around my schedule. I wasn’t just talking to my family all the time.
Now that that’s over, I need to put a solid effort into socializing because it’s not a top priority on my to-do list. When you commute, you actually need to plan to meet with your friends instead of seeing them when you get back to your dorm.
I’m going to actually start planning to get together with friends because I don’t want to spend all my time working and just reading and watching t.v when I get home (I’ve read 13 books this month, and the month isn’t even over yet)
Well, I guess that’s it for now. While I am making time to sleep and relax, my schedule is packed full of things to do this semester. Last week, I ate lunch in class because I wanted to go to the gym. It’s all about priorities.
(Update: Shortly after writing this post, I found a method to prevent burnout during this busy season. Here’s the link: How To Prevent College Burnout | Motivation, Productivity, Self-Care, Etc)
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What has your first month of school been like? We got two days off because of the hurricane, so there were two weeks where my weekend was longer than my week.
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! As a college student myself, I struggle with having to put some time into my social life and to attend some social events too. That’s something I’m working on too. I really enjoyed this post and it was very inspiring! ?
I’m glad you enjoyed it! It’s hard to strike a balance in college when it comes to work, studying, and taking care of yourself. But then we’re also expected to go to a bunch of events, travel, eat out a lot, stay up all night, etc. I think that can be too much for anybody, so we have to learn that we can’t do everything.
Oh, you’re really busy, my year at University haven’t started yet, it’s gonna be my third year (starts 24/9) and reading your post made me think about how busy I’m going to be this year with 19 credit hrs ?
The thing is, I’m not procrastinating as much as I used to because I know I have things to do. That’s been a huge plus. Good luck with your third year! I’m sure you’ll do well.