At the start of my freshman year, I was perfectly poised to succeed academically: I was in three honors classes, a consecutive 4.0 GPA student, and kept color-coded Mildliner-highlighted notes every study YouTuber would be proud of (the ultimate hallmark of student accomplishment)! By the end of freshman year, I’d failed four out of six of my classes, been diagnosed with major depressive disorder, and begun my first session with the first of many therapists. Sophomore year was difficult, but the former gifted student in me was determined to chase after the academic achievement that used to come so easily to me.
Now in my junior year, I’d like to think I’ve achieved some semblance of victory. Nothing is ever a perfect success story; I have days in which I oversleep and undereat & perhaps I am not who I wished to be at 11. But I am growing into someone who I could wish to be these days.
For many students like me, who struggle with mental health, academia can be a difficult battle to wade into, especially with the rise of an ever-present digital experience. Perfectly curated Reels and TikToks blare at you about creating a “productive life”, where everyone gleams white-teeth rosy-cheeked plump-lipped smiles all the time & wakes up at 6:30 am to eat perfectly protein-packed organically-produced homemade breakfasts & jogs every morning, even on Sundays, & studies in an expensive posture-fixing chair in a minimalist desk in an inspirationally poster-plastered neat-cornered bedroom. There are things to do at every corner and schedules to achieve the perfect daily routine.
Sound familiar? There’s a constant online overload of information: how does one escape the immobility-inducing anxiety of it all? How does one follow these no-rest lifestyles, especially without the eventual burnout slash humiliating public breakdown?
In balancing my mental health and student life, it’s important for me to separate myself from the filtered digital experience & create
my own quiet contentment. Here are a few guidelines which keep me from losing my mind during exam season (or help me recover when I do)!
DISCLAIMER: This is explicitly based on me & my personal experiences with mental health; they might not work for everyone, and that’s okay.
( tips & tricks. )
↠ do take care of yourself / don’t make it too complex
I know this is a very common tip, and that’s because it does have merit! Regardless of your current academic performance, it’s important to stay hydrated & nourished and take care of yourself. it won’t solve all of your problems but it does give you an improved headspace to deal with said problems. Doing all of the above puts you in a better state, both physically and mentally. it’s kind of like a +10 hp potion to help you fight that big scary boss battle you’ve got coming up (that pile of review worksheets on your desk. yup. I would know.) basic psychology! However, it’s also important to challenge the aesthetic facade of current self-care trends. A lot of the promotion of self-care online these days is done by brands and businesses looking for ways to extend their reach: I guarantee that you do not need a fancy face mask or a $30 candle to do self-care “perfectly”. The simpler a routine is, the easier it is to do on a difficult health day. it’s okay if you can’t accomplish all of these daily– if you can only manage to do one only halfway, then halfway is good enough! doing 50%, 30%, or 5% of something is better than doing 0% of it.
EXAMPLES– this includes: maintaining a proper sleep schedule, remembering to take meds, exercising as much as you can (walking 5 mins a day in your backyard– vitamin d is important, especially in the long stretch of winter months coming up), and practicing basic hygiene (brushing your teeth on a difficult day)!
↠ do have a support system / don’t fall to peer pressure
An important thing to know about mental health is that every successful person around you isn’t just relying on only themselves but also an interconnected system of people behind them supporting them (including family, tutors, and teachers)! Nobody does what they do alone. study together with friends– it’s more enjoyable than studying alone & you can hold each other accountable. have an adult figure with whom you can discuss academic or even personal concerns– a teacher that you trust or your school counselor. However, especially in our current competitive academic system, it can be difficult to not compare yourself with others! Just because a certain tactic works for others, doesn’t necessarily mean it works for you. or similarly, just because someone else is succeeding easily at an area you struggle with, doesn’t mean you’re a failure! remind yourself of your own worth & circumstances.
↠ do create a basic schedule / don’t put too much pressure on yourself
Schedules provide a way to combat executive dysfunction & maintain regularity. However, there are many templates out there that are rigid & exhaustive. Perhaps these may work for some people, but for me, it’s difficult due to how fluctuating my daily timetable is. remember to adjust schedules based on your progress & abilities. Do you work better during the morning or the night? How long can you study consecutively before needing a break? How long does it take for you to switch between activities? (include this time on your schedule!) focus on the primary factors of personal health first: sleep schedules and meal times. if it takes a bit of trial and error, that’s okay.
EXAMPLES: when i create a schedule for myself, i generally give myself 15 minutes of wiggle room around the start and end times, because i have less anxiety about the time crunch that way. I plot out important beginning times: I always have my dinner around 7:00 pm, and I go to sleep around 10 pm. i tend to sleep early and wake up early to study, as it’s easier for me to stay focused in the mornings & is a lot healthier than pulling late-nighters.
↠ adjust tactics to fit your own preferences!
This applies to all of the above. This may include things such as timer/reminder systems daily to help yourself with routines and schedules (post-it notes, phone alarms, etc) or sensory associations that make it more enjoyable to study (putting on the music you enjoy, a little snack, or a drink). not everything that helps other people will work for you!
happy studying, & remember to take care of yourself! <3
( Lilirose Luo. )
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