Since coming to JCU, something that I have continually struggled with is finding a balance between my social, personal and academic life. In high school, this balance was easier to achieve since I went to school and spent time with friends there, but then was able to come home and focus on my homework and myself. In college, however, I have found that because I am able to spend time with people all day and everything is right here, it is harder to find a middle ground between the different aspects of my life. I no longer have physical separation between everything.
This is not to say that I do not enjoy college life. I love being able to see my friends every single day and the fact that everything I need is right here. This is a unique time in my life that I recognize that I will probably never experience again, so I am trying to soak it all in. But, for my mental health, finding balance is important.
I found a comfortable groove last year that not only allowed me to focus on my work and make memories with my friends but also have alone time. However, this year I have discovered a new layer to this struggle: almost all of my friends and I have a car. This new element of our college experience has been so much fun because we are able to go to different places more easily. Yet it has also been an adjustment because now there are constant opportunities to go and do something.
This new addition has forced me to have to reevaluate how I balance my time at JCU. In an ideal world, I would have no homework and could go and hangout with my friends all day and go on adventures, but that’s not reality. It’s been hard at times, but I have had to learn to say “no” to invitations in order to prioritize my school work and have alone time to recharge.
This has been on my mind the last few days because of an invitation that I had to turn down this past weekend. A few of my friends spontaneously decided to drive to Columbus and see a concert, and while I would have loved to go and make memories, I had a huge midterm that I needed to study for on top of my regular homework. I ultimately had to turn down the invitation and choose to prioritize my school work and personal mental health, which ultimately was better for me.
In instances like these where I need to choose what to prioritize, I like to remember some advice that I was told in the past. Rather than thinking about what you will be missing by choosing to focus on one thing rather than another, think about what you will be gaining with your choice. So in this instance, rather than thinking about how I was missing a fun concert with my friends, I tried to think about how I was gaining time to recharge and focus on my schoolwork.
While this mindset can be hard to adopt, it has helped me to be more confident in my decisions and not feel as much “FOMO.” I would encourage anyone who is having a difficult time balancing the various aspects of their life to try this mindset out and see if it helps! Finding balance is so important for having good mental health, so it is important to find!
