AHHH, the three S of a student’s life: sleep, study, and social life. Before entering college, I read countless precautions—though sometimes, they seemed like threats—about life inside the university. They say that you can only choose two out of the three. For example, if you choose to study while maintaining a healthy sleep schedule, you end up sacrificing your social life. Or if you choose to party and sleep, you’ll probably fail your classes. They say that you simply can’t have all three. But what if I told you that I had all three and I managed to get out of college alive? ;)
I recently graduated from UP and I never thought that I’d say this, but the past four years are the best ones that I’ve had in my life (so far). My college life is filled with so many fun memories: learning about things I’m passionate about, organizing events for my org, and crazy nights out with my barkada. Though college felt like a living hell sometimes (BTW, it’s an inevitable feeling), I’m glad that I made the most out of it. I’m thankful that I was able to do everything I could before being fully recruited by the real world (*cue tears*).
Before anything else, I would just like to note that there are lots of factors that come into play here. Life deals us different cards, so circumstances might not be the same for us—what worked for me might not work for you.
Nonetheless, some of you may be wondering how I was able to do the seemingly impossible feat of graduating on time while having fun. Here a few tips:
All of these are priorities
Over time, I’ve noticed that people think priorities are set in stone. They also think that you can only put one thing above everything else. But if you take a second look, you’ll realize that you can actually treat all of these as significant parts of your life. Of course, school is important and that’s a given. But so is sleep, it’s part of your health, and so is your social life, since ‘no man is an island’ and you need your friends to keep you sane.
Trust me, scheduling helps!
Time management is a skill that I’ve yet to master but have, thankfully, gotten better at over the past few years. Scheduling takes up a huge chunk of how I managed to survive college. To be honest, I owe a lot to my planner and without it I would’ve failed all of my classes.
When keeping a schedule, it’s still a matter of priorities—but in scheduling, it’s about knowing what’s most important in that specific point in time.
For example, you have an exam on the day of your best friend’s birthday. Initially you would think that you’d have to choose only one between these two, right? But, I would just like to remind you that there are 24 hours in a day and if you portion those hours right, you could have both (+ a decent amount of sleep!). Opt to study for the exam earlier than you would’ve, and yes, this means no cramming, so you could make it to your best friend’s celebration. See, the best of both worlds!
It’s all about balance, with enough room for variety
In case you didn’t notice by now, these things are not mutually exclusive—they don’t exist separate from one other. If we were to plot using a Venn diagram, they all have at least one thing in common: you.
Just because these things are different facets of your life, it doesn’t mean that they can’t overlap. Yes, you are most definitely allowed to mix all of these together.
How, you may ask? There are a lot of ways! You can call your friends up for study/sleepover sessions, that way you’re all hanging out, while still keeping up with your acads, and making sure that you all take some time to rest.
Again, what may have worked for me may not automatically work for you, but you'll never what would work for you until you give it a try. Good luck!
From The Candy Bulletin Community
