Slipping Into School Stress-Free

It's the last day of August. I always preferred autumn to summer. However, I believe autumn has a disadvantage in this respect: the beginning of the school year. 

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

(I have similar posts to this here and here)

Not that I have anything against education (hehehe)! But the school year carries a whole variety of things to stress out about. (Especially if you're about to graduate...)

What classes should I be taking? Will I have any time to write? What if I can't keep up with the homework? What if I need to put my writing aside ALL YEAR? How am I going to have enough time to do all I want to do? Will I be able to get a job? What if I fail all my tests? What if I fail the SAT? Where should I go to college? WHAT IF I FAIL AT LIFE?!?

Here are 10 tips on how to slip into the school year stress-free (and how to balance writing on the side).

(Disclaimer: I am not a professional. I speak from experience. However, what works for me might not work for you. :)  )

1. Scheduling. I absolutely 100% advise getting a planner and USING it. My Freshman year in High school was sloppy and my grades were a little bad due to my lack of scheduling. After I began using a planner, everything was drastically turned around. I was able to see the amount of work I was supposed to do in an organised manner, and I was also able to set out the correct portions to do. It helped me to utilize all my time slots and to be overall more productive.

2. Get caught back up. Two weeks before the start of school, look through the end of your notebook from last year and see where you left off. Utilize the Internet. Go online and look up videos about that subject. Also watch introductory videos to some of the subjects you know you will be taking. This will help set your mind on track from the summer lag.

3. Start waking up early BEFORE school starts. Find out what your school schedule will be:
a) what time you will have to get up
b) what time you will have to be at school
c) what time you will be home by
About a week or two before school begins, start waking up at the time you will have to wake up for school. This will help your body and mind ease into the timing before the school actually begins.

4. Prioritize. What needs to get done first? Even if it looks like you have an empty day, think over what needs to get done. The solution to worrying about problems is to take action and solve them now. Worrying about a paper due in a few weeks? Sit yourself down with a notepad and pen, and look up some info. Make an outline. Taking action diminishes the worry of not getting it done.

5. Utilize time slots. It's not like we have one class to worry about. Most of us have 5 or more. And with assignments from every class, we need to utilize our time slots if we want to make time for other activities (like writing). I am actually surprised at how much time I waste on things that aren't very important. If you find yourself wasting your time, put it aside and do that thing you've been wanting to do all week.

6. Get your homework done. SET THIS GROOVE THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL AND MAKE IT A HABIT. I don't want to sound like a preachy goody-two-shoes parent or something, but I can say for a fact that getting my homework done in a timely manner has significantly improved my mental health and my anxiety levels. I think we all know how stressful it is to stay up till 2 am trying to bulldoze through a project we didn't get done earlier.
As soon as you get home from school:
a) grab a LARGE glass of lemon water
b) do some stretches
c) turn on some music and settle down to get some of your assignments done

7. Have a de-stressing outlet. For some people that's yoga. For some people it's cooking. For me, it's reading and writing. Have some sort of outlet that you can make a stress-free zone. Perhaps look up a writing prompt each evening and set down one rule: NOT TO BE BOUND BY PERFECTION. Allow yourself to just let go of expectations (and therefore, anxiety).

8. Have a clean space. Whatever you're stressing out about, I SWEAR that you will be significantly less stressed if your space is clean. If you're stressing out about an assignment or a piece of writing you're trying to get done, take a short break to clean and clear your space. As you clear your space, try to steady your breathing and clear your mind as well.

9. Lower your caffeine intake. Ok, ok. I know people are going to be up in arms against me on this one. (could you point that gun the other way?? 😱) Although a small cup of coffee can absolutely improve focus, a constant caffeine supply does not only keep you awake, it also makes your nerves go haywire.

Perhaps this is just me, but when I have one too many cups of coffee and then try to get an assignment done, I find my anxiety levels rising, my face getting hot, my chest getting tight and my fingers move constantly because excessive caffeine consumption.

I recommend one good cup in the morning to improve focus and blood flow through the brain. I firmly believe that one should NOT consume caffeine after noon.

10. Balancing writing. I know that I want to write my whole life. Unfortunately this means I cannot spend every moment of my life writing. Most of the time, writing will have to be balanced on the side rather than taking the main priority.
Think of it like this: school is your occupation. After your job is finished, you can write as much as you want. Perhaps that writing will be done in the mornings, maybe the evening, perhaps the weekend. But having a balanced time for writing and a balanced time for school will lower your stress levels.

Ok, well that's about the sum of all my tips for slipping into school stress-free.

Keep an eye out because I may update this post with some more tips next week. :)

Let's Chat!
1. Do you typically find your anxiety levels high during the school year? 
2. How do you balance a school schedule and writing time?
3. What are some of your tips and suggestions for slipping into school stress-free?