March Madness, the aptly named period of the semester where seemingly every aspect of your life goes berserk, is upon Tech. With the end of the semester coming up and Spring Break approaching even faster, everything seems to move at lightspeed and you’re just along for the ride.
However, holding on for dear life as you’re being pulled through the month may not be the best way to make your way through the stresses of Spring semester. Here are some tips and tricks to take some time to slow
down and thrive for the rest of the semester, not just to stress and survive.
Stop Doomscrolling
Whether it’s incessantly reloading your Twitter timeline or scrolling through TikTok to distract yourself, mindless scrolling can be more harmful than helpful. Apps, like TikTok and Instagram, are designed to be addicting and pull you into their interface — meaning that hours can pass in what feels like minutes.
In a period of your life where everything feels like it’s moving incredibly fast, losing hours can only make the feeling worse and put more pressure on you to meet deadlines you may have.
Instead, try to choose pastimes that are more mindful — such as reading a short story or article on your phone — or have a set time limit, like an episode of a show or a Youtube video.
Choose Slow Hobbies
Hobbies, such as baking or painting, that involve your full attention at a given moment are also a good way of slowing down your life. When you give yourself time and space to really only focus on one thing, you’re allowing yourself to take a step away from the stressful hubbub of daily life and exclusively focus on something that brings you joy.
Making time for these moments might feel like a waste of your time, an already scarce resource, but in actuality, it lets you recharge and ensures that you are making better use of the time you commit to work.
Schedule Schedule Schedule
Oftentimes, the reason everything feels so overwhelming is simply that you feel that there is too much to do and too
few hours in the day.
However, with good scheduling, it is easy to defeat that notion and relieve some of the stress that you won’t be able to finish everything in time.
Tools, such as Google Calendar, that allow you to visually map tasks to specific times allow you to know what time you should be working on what task.
Breaks Are a Must
Along with scheduling all your work, it is also important that you also schedule time for a break.
Whether that be a mandatory hour before bed where you do your deeply intricate skincare routine and watch TV or twenty minutes in the morning where you read your favorite book while drinking coffee, it’s easy to forget about the most important thing when everything is so stressful: your health and happiness.
Your mental and physical health are always the top priorities, so it’s equally important that you schedule time for them along with your work.
Say No
It’s always okay to say no to commitments you don’t have the time or energy to take on, but this is especially true now. When you have so many commitments or responsibilities piling on, it might be easy to think there’s no harm in adding one more.
However, it is important to prioritize yourself over the expectations of others and limit your responsibilities if it feels like you are taking on too much.
At the end of the day, if you are overwhelmed by things you’ve taken on, you won’t be able to do your best — by others or by yourself; take care of you.
Know When to Get Help
Stress is unfortunately a real and present part of being a college student, especially at a school as rigorous as Tech.
However, there is a difference between having a healthy amount of pressure and a level of stress that is causing serious detriment to your mental
and physical health.
Your mental and physical health should always be above your grades, extracurriculars or other responsibilities.
If you are struggling or know someone who is, there are resources available from Tech at mentahealth.gatech.edu/about/scheduling-appointment.
The spring semester is coming to an end soon. You’ve got this and good luck Jackets!