How to perfectly balance school and life

Life is all about finding the perfect balance between your personal and professional life. These are few steps I implement in my life to achieve that perfect balance to keep me going and drive me to thrive every day.

1. Timetabling (the Calendar is your best friend)

If you are someone like me who loses track of time easily and gets absorbed in a task they are doing, then timetabling your day and making events for your day can help you keep organised and keep you on track with your work and personal to-do list. I even use my calendar to plan my travel time and daily task like grocery shopping.

2. Keep in touch with home (but not too much)

Being away from your home country or even your city, adjusting to a new place can sometimes get intimating, and you will find yourself going to things and people you find comfort in, be it your family or friends back home or your favourite dish. Sometimes you should keep in touch, but you should also be open to new things and sometimes put yourself in situations out of your comfort zone to learn new things, eat new foods, make new friends, find a new favourite hobby.

3. Balance your diet and life

Have a meal plan for your week, try meal prepping in advance to save time on busy days, so that you don’t have to resort to instant noodles every night after a busy day. Even if you are having instant noodles (let’s be honest, all students are guilty of having their instant ramen stash) make it a balanced meal by adding veggies or protein. Try new easy one pot recipes or learn new dishes from your friends and roomies. No matter how little time you have, try to have a healthy breakfast and start your day with a full tummy and high spirits (a coffee is not breakfast!).

4. Physical Activity

Spending all your times with your books in the library is not the ideal situation or vice versa spending all your time in your room locked with your web series or spending the entire day at the gym. Everything should be done in moderation because excesses of anything can be bad in the long run. I agree you can have the best of both worlds, but you can try to be as close to it as you can. If you spent a week studying hard and working on your assignments, then take a day off soon and release your stress.

5. It’s ok to be homesick

It’s ok to be homesick and feel lost in a new environment but don’t let it consume you. Take everything the new life has to offer you.

In the end, I would like to say that balancing academics and social life is attainable, you just need to not be hard on yourself and learn moderation. Establish a daily routine, try meeting new people- the university welcome events are a good place to do that. Just remember to be gentle with yourself!

You can find a variety of advice and resources for wellbeing on our Health and Wellbeing pages.