Nassau Hall on Princeton’s campus. Photo Credit: Adriana De Cervantes.
I think that November is a critical month for the fall semester. Many students feel more pressure to do better for the rest of the semester as midterm grades come in. Students in labs start to have their lab work amp up at this point in the semester, especially newbie researchers who just joined a lab in September. That ‘just getting to know the lab’ phase is over; the sun is setting at an outrageous time; the weather is getting colder; and the professors seem to make less sense. Holidays feel like they’re right around the corner, so the end of the semester feels so close yet so far. In short, November and the first half of December is a weird limbo phase that, at its best, is a transition/preparation period and, at its worst, purgatory. With this pressure in mind, it becomes important to recognize how to balance research work and studies and mental health and social life and…and…and the list goes on.
The best approach to this is to recognize that you probably will not be able to balance everything. Sometimes, it’s okay to be lacking in some areas; it’s a perfectionist’s worst nightmare, but it’s the truth. Some students might skip or shorten a few workouts to get work done, or maybe their social life ends up being just a little bit more lackluster during this time, and that is OKAY. It’s normal to have these drops in the semester. Once that perfectionist mindset is removed, the mental pressure will start to dissolve, and you can start to do better on the things you are prioritizing, so those drops aren’t all for naught. In other words, prioritize. As the scramble for grades and improving those grades starts to heighten, it’s important to prioritize things so that you don’t feel stressed about everything. Even though it may seem counterintuitive, prioritizing and perhaps letting a few things not be as perfect as normal will actually improve your mental health. That, in turn, will allow you to add more things to the prioritization list.
- Step 1: Write down a list of all the things you have to do for that week. Start with a week. If you’re ambitious, maybe make a list of things you need to do from now until Reading Period, so you can have a successful reading period. It can range from that daunting pile of laundry or that overdue experiment.
- Step 2: number them, and create a solid plan for the top 3 most important tasks.
Create a routine. I think it’s best during these times to perhaps stop the spontaneous adventures. It will be better for you to have a stable schedule everyday, just for these next few weeks. While spontaneous adventures with your friends may be fun, they may stress you out even more when you come back from that high of fun and realize you still have stuff to do. This does not mean that you don’t have fun with your friends or do whatever helps you wind down and relax. It just means that those times should be scheduled. In other words, you need to know that they fit into your schedule and that it won’t impact anything. I would provide steps for creating a routine, but everyone’s different, so I’ll just provide tips instead.
- Tip 1: Schedule meal times. Meal times can help you set a schedule if you’re not good with following times, since it will add an imaginary constraint to your schedule. Plus, eating is always important during these times.
- Tip 2: Find a spot to always study in, perhaps different from where you’ve been studying this past semester. For me, studying in a coffee shop gives me constraints based on the closing and opening times of the coffee shop, or when I know it will be busy.
Finally, I won’t say try to incorporate something you love or an activity that helps you destress, because in all reality, I often don’t find time for those. That’s the reason why this time of year is so stressful to begin with. Instead of an event or activity, just have something that makes you happy. If it happens to be an extra helping of ice cream at dinner, a splurge on some clothes online, or a Pinterest scrolling session, so be it. Or, maybe have something to look forward to in December, whether a shopping trip, traveling, or a restaurant you are waiting to try out.
Hopefully these tips help, or at least make you realize you are not alone. November and December can be rough, but creating routines and not being so hard on yourself can make it a bit more manageable.
– Haya Elamir, Natural Sciences Correspondent
