Keeping The Balance Between Your Studies and Social Life

A post of this sort was bound to feature on my blog sometime soon, and I hope that my experience with working two jobs and going through studies and exam season simultaneously can help to offer you some words of advice (wisdom was a push) for juggling studies with your work or (the more difficult) social life.

Take a day off

As I work and study non-stop from Monday to Saturday, and go out on a Saturday night, I usually write Sundays off and recover from an evident hangover, drink too much coffee, catch up on sleep (and college work) and just take some time for myself. Allowing yourself a day a week (or half a day if your schedule is just that crazy) gives you enough head space to start afresh for a whole new week, but doesn't result in a major backlog of work afterwards. 

Keep socialising short and sweet

Long gone are the days you would sleep over your best friends house 3 days in a row. Now it's hard to even commit to one evening without a conflict of plans. I usually meet with friends on a one-on-one basis, because let's face it, Facebook chats need to begin at least a month in advance to get a large group together. Whether it's a quick coffee, lunch or in my case a lot of the time, piercing date, spending a couple of hours every so often is enough time to catch up without the stress of constantly cancelling plans.

Timetable your social life

If you are an organised freak like me, you may have already begun planning or writing up your revision timetable for your exams. Although this may seem eager, it gives you the chance to steady the studies and make time for friends, hobbies etc. much better than going under house arrest for the 2 weeks prior to exam season. 

Work with friends

Take it from me: a girl whose idea of rebellion is sneaking into another colleges library with a friend to revise, revising my with friends can be, dare I say it, quite fun. Always pick a quiet space; a bedroom, small coffee shop or library, so that distractions are kept to a minimum. I always tend to revise with friends who are taking the same subject/s as me, so we can compare mental and physical notes, because it can be easier than toy think to miss things in class, that your friend may have picked up, and vice versa. Friends are also good to test your knowledge, so get some q cards ready and test each other, It's also a good chance to gossip about your fellow classmates. But you didn't hear that from me...

College comes first

If you're deciding between going out on the town until 3am with your friends, or revising for an upcoming exam, it's logical which one you should choose. College impacts where and if you go to university, or into the job you aspire to, so stay focused and never forget your overall goals to keep you motivated. But in the end it's about finding the balance - never isolate yourself, meeting with friends on your study/college breaks will lift your mood and keep your stress levels lower, however neglecting revision and study time will stress you out to the max, so leave your friends with time to study before your next lesson. Don't sacrifice socialising, just negotiate it.