For many of us college students, we are often swamped with homework, classes, and possibly work. College students are busy and don’t have lots of time to spare for relaxing or fun activities. Especially for those who are working towards graduating early or taking a lot of credits. We’re all busy, stressed, tired, and need a nap. The only cure seems to be caffeine. But for many of us, this is a draining process for daily activities, making it seem like a never-ending cycle of classes and homework. What do we do with our free time? Well, depending on what you’re involved in, it could be a sport, band, a club, or work. These activities are things that provide interest to us or provide the money to pay for the things we’d like to participate in. But with time, sometimes these can feel like a chore. How do we change our perspective of these?
What time are you waking up? Starting early enough for you to function, while it still being early enough to relax, wake up, maybe go for a walk can really motivate you for the day. It’s as simple as putting your phone down early and going to bed right away, then waking up before 10am. This can change your outlook on the day. Getting at least 7 hours of sleep every night and getting started for the day is reasonable enough for the average person to do. Depending on your schedule, this could be entirely possible for you to do. Of course, figuring out how many hours of sleep you need is completely necessary and different for every person, but on average a person needs 7-10 hours of sleep every night. Some might even say some adults truly only need 5 hours to function the next day. Once you figure it out, you can find what makes you feel the best for the day and what’s reasonable for you. For many, the earlier you wake up, the more awake and ready for the day you feel. If you haven’t woken up and sat outside drinking a fresh cup of coffee, listening to the birds and watching the sunrise, I truly recommend it. 10/10, extremely relaxing and a beautiful start to the day.
What’s your diet look like? What you eat is how you feel, and I truly believe this. Eating fast food or ramen every single day, while these are both very affordable options, these can also get old and make you feel like your schedule is repetitive and it’s probably not letting you feel at your best. Eating things that are nutritious and delicious to you is what gets you to feel your best and also give you something to look forward to that day. This doesn’t mean you can’t eat these things, but a change in your diet can make you feel better than you usually do. However, this can be different for everyone.
Along with this, are you getting enough exercise? While a lot of us tend to become consumed with our homework and classes and not even considering working out with our stressful schedule, working out is one of the best things one can do for themselves to destress. Not only is it a good for stress, but it also is good for your health. It makes you feel good mentally and physically. Especially in the morning, starting the day with a workout is a good way to set yourself up with success, a positive mindset, and having a reason to wake up early. Starting the day right is the best way to be motivated and feel good about yourself.
Friends are what we may need to be able to have a growth mindset. Many of us in college live with other people who we may or may not know closely but is our source of interaction with others. This can motivate us either by making us want to help others, do better, or maybe just something to look forward to. Having good people to surround ourselves with can make or break our mental health and with others support, things can get significantly better over time. With encouragement from others, we may be able to do our best.
Lastly, how happy are you in your daily activities? Our main motivators every day are success and happiness in ourselves. If we didn’t want to succeed, we wouldn’t be doing the things that we were doing on the daily. Classes and homework are things we must push through to achieve the future we would like. Sports may be used as an enjoyment factor while also keeping us active and fit. Many chose to volunteer as an activity that makes us feel good mentally. Others use our hobbies to keep occupied and happy. In the end, what you do in your free time should be what you enjoy and want to do, and if you don’t enjoy it, why do it? If you are working, do you enjoy your job? Is it worth the time you’re putting into it if it’s draining? Do you really like the sport you’re in? Do you want to put this time and energy into these activities that you may not truly enjoy?
Keeping things that make you feel the best and routines that benefit your daily life is essential to our lives to keep us motivated. Especially while in college, we need things to keep us going and feel like we matter. Having a goal for the day and activities planned keeps us going, knowing that we are impacting our mental and physical health for the better. Along with this, helping others is another great motivator. We wake up knowing our day is full of activities, so why wouldn’t be want to make it the best that we can?