Dear Miss Red,
It’s getting more difficult to manage both my social life and my academic responsibilities. I’ve been doing more things with my social circle and beyond, which is great! However, I’ve also had more assignments and studying to do for my courses, and then there’s also personal hobbies of mine that I’ve devoted less time to (but let’s ignore that for now). Do you have any advice on how to manage this?
– An Increasingly Busy Bee
Dearest Busy Bee,
Babe, I’m so happy that you’re able to be more involved with your social circle! That can be one of the hardest things to keep up with when you’re busy. I often feel friendships are one of the first things to be sacrificed when people get far too busy, so I’m proud you’ve continued to make time for them.
Your concerns are completely valid, especially if you’re losing time you could spend on your hobbies. It’s important to remember how hobbies can directly improve our mental health.
College is busy, obviously, and especially so when you get into higher-level classes. More work is being assigned, more readings are being done – it’s literally such a nightmare.
So – let’s work through this together and figure this out.
Some advice that has been given to me is to treat your schoolwork as a job. I know, it’s easy to let school leech over into your daily life, but with the two being so intertwined, it’s important to draw a level of separation.
So, treat it like a job. Let’s say, for example, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., you’re “clocked in” to your school work. You’re going to class, you’re working on papers, you’re reading textbooks. Anything school related, you’re doing during this time.
And, like, you’re not being lazy about it. You’re hitting the books hard, not studying for 10 minutes before scrolling on TikTok for five hours. You are genuinely putting in lots of hard work and effort.
Then, once your “school shift” is over, you’re done! 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. is your scheduled “you” time. This is time you intentionally schedule out for yourself to do whatever you may please. Maybe it’s hanging with friends, maybe it’s indulging in your hobbies or maybe it’s just laying in bed! Whatever it is, this time is intentionally cut out of your day for you to spend with yourself.
You can adjust the times to whatever may fit your life better. Maybe you’re a night owl like me, or maybe you’re one of those crazy people who wake up at 5 a.m. (I’m only judging a little).
If scheduling out time for yourself every day doesn’t work, adjust it to how you may need! Maybe your scheduled “you time” is a couple of hours every Saturday. Whatever works, honey.
I want to emphasize how important blocking out time for yourself may be. I’m a big schedule girl, so having a time in my schedule that is intentionally made for me to be myself, and not the fabulous Miss Red you know and love, is so beneficial to me.
So give it a try! Time to be yourself, whether it be for hobbies, alone time or spent with friends, is so good for your mental health. I could cite a bunch of science-y articles talking about all these benefits, but that would be so boring and gross. So, just trust me, babe. The proof is in the pudding, or something like that.
XOXO
Miss Red
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