Kelly: My name is Kelly Korb. I am a fifth year senior. I have never pulled an all nighter and have never skipped a meal. I have also remained relatively low-stress this year. Want to know how I did four years of that as a nursing major? I will tell you.
Set a limit of when to "shut-off": My cut off is midnight. After midnight I stop doing homework and go to bed, even if I still have work to do. Absolutely nobody is forcing you to stay up all night. Your body needs rest and the ability to recharge. You're not doing anybody any favors by overworking yourself. Also, we are not all as busy as we say we are. Are you really doing homework the ENTIRE night you're up? Doubtful. Turn off the computer, the cell phone and SLEEP.
Just EAT. Plain and simple. I hear the excuse "I don't have time to eat." Sure you do. Again, this goes back to the we are not as busy as we say we are. If you can't make it to food service, carry snacks with you to have during the day. Again, speaking from a future health care provider's stand point, your body needs food to keep you going. So like I said, you're not doing yourself any favors by skipping a meal. However, I do know some people who skip lunch just because they can function on two meals a day. Did that a lot in the summer. But if you NORMALLY eat 3 meals a day but find yourself skipping one, two or all 3 periodically, you might want to do some minor adjustments...
MOVE IT! Since May, Holly and I have been walking every night, just to do it. Neither one of us need to lose weight, but we were tired of sitting around the apartment all day. Remember hearing those kid commercials "get up and play an hour a day?" Well....do it. Again, I hear the "I don't have time to exercise" or "I can't find something I like to do." WALK. You want to know why walking is easy? Because we do it all the time! I find that ever since I've started walking every night I can't sit for longer than an hour. Nobody's doing anybody any favors by sitting around all the time. I have read study after study after study that says sitting for prolonged periods of time can be detrimental to your health.
Examine your daily schedule...and re examine as needed. This relates to the theme I've been saying. How busy are we really? Think of a typical day for you. How often do you spend doing homework? Or housework? Texting/calling people? Spending time on Facebook? You'll be surprised at what you find when you actually sit and think about it. Yeah, now that you've thought about it, you realize you're not as busy as you say you are. I'm not as busy as I say I am. But like I said: never skipped a meal or pulled an all nighter. Those were a result of choices I made, and I'm not trying to brag. I'm just saying you can make those choices too. Anyone can.
Holly: Hey...is this thing on? Ok, big college-kid lesson:
ABSOLUTELY NO ONE OR NOTHING IS FORCING YOU TO PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER!
You hear me? Need me to spell it out for you? Do an interpretive dance? Ok...good.
So stop it.
Pulling an all-nighter is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. You're screwing with your sleep schedule, you're putting unnecessary stress on your body, and if you're studying, there ain't no way in Hades that you're going to remember everything you studied. Chances are you'll be more concerned about how freaking tired you are. You don't have to. Straight up. I went through four years of Berea and never did. You know why? Because I prioritized. I made a plan of what I needed to do and I did it. Now, that goes without saying that I never didn't just DO it. Of course I procrastinated. But I goofed off when I needed to and I buckled down when I needed to. But I think more often than not, I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.
Sometimes prioritizing includes making sacrifices. That's just the way it goes. You get a text from your bestie asking to go out, but you know that you have a test on Monday and you need to study this weekend. Sometimes you have to be the big responsible grown up kid and say no to fun, your friends, etc. Bottom line: You NEED to say no to your friends sometimes. Contrary to popular belief, school is more important than hanging out with your friends. Yeah, it stinks, but when you get all your stuff done, then reward yourself. Worked wonders for me...sort of like extra incentive to trudge through all the academia.
Another thing: Listen to your body. If you've been working on homework for hours on end and you feel like you can't read another word or keep your eyes open for one more second, put the homework away and go to BED! Don't push yourself. Sometimes being a good student is knowing your limits, knowing when enough is enough. Even if you have to do more work the next day, at least you won't be falling over exhausted. For me, even just doing something small every day was enough. At least it was something!
Hey, sorry to lay on the tough love, but if you want to survive somewhere as tough as Berea, you have to work your @$$ off. Take it from someone who survived: You have to do the work. But I still had plenty of time for fun. It's all about balancing. Or drinking obscene amounts of coffee. Whichever you prefer. :)
P.S. Get some sleep. Just do it.
No comments:
Post a Comment