Of course, everyone has a unique studying style. Everyone has an array of ups and downs. It’s normal to have occasional bad days and good days. However, when you have more than your fair share of bad days, that’s not normal. You’re either going through a difficult time, whether it be because of school, relationships, family, or work, or you have a clinical mental illness. Depression, for instance, lasts for at least two weeks during which one suffers lack of pleasure or interest in activities, inability to concentrate, frequent negative thoughts, hopelessness, weight changes, sleep disturbances, and, in severe cases, suicidal thoughts or behavior. (Contact someone as soon as possible if this happens. Please.)
For those of you who absolutely cannot deal with school on top of all of the hardship and need to get help, do not see it as weakness. See it as a necessary step to develop coping strategies and thought processes that will stabilize you for the future. Unfortunately, you eventually have to worry about maintaining a good enough GPA at school, which sucks. Hard. But many people, like me, have been through difficult times and we’ve done fine (so far!), and we continue to try our best to get to where we ultimately want to be. So, without further ado, here are some tips to do well in school despite going through a rough time.
1. Do the easy things first.
If you do the tasks you would prefer to do first, you will feel more motivated to complete your other tasks. Not only does it shorten your to-do list but it also builds your confidence enough that you WILL (somewhat) feel like fulfilling your other tasks—as long as you like what you’re studying. If you don’t like what you’re studying, you not only have an idea of what you don’t want to do when you grow up but you also have time to switch out of the class. Also, take advantage of any neutral or good moods to be productive, since those periods of focus facilitate the shortening of your task list and you can get going with whatever you want to do satisfactorily.
2. Get help from your friends, family, and/or a counselor.
They are your friends because they know the responsibility of taking care of you when you’re going through a tough time.
3. Take control of your life.
As I said earlier, suffering is not weakness. Though that is most likely not going to console many people who read this, it is actually really important to see suffering that way. If you think of yourself as the victim, maybe it’ll give you a pass to feel bad here and there, but after a while, it will help justify your sadness and you’ll get “comfortable” being depressed. Research says that habits are really difficult to break. Imagine how difficult it is to break the habit of feeling comfortable in your depression! Give yourself time to do each task/grieve/cry/whatever you might feel you need to do. I have an agenda, which helps organize my day and makes me feel like I have more control over my life.
4. Harden your shell.
I’m not going to tell you to think positive thoughts or to suck it up. What I will tell you, though, is to harden your shell—In other words, walk with equanimity while thinking that life gives us good, bad, and odd plot twists that we have to deal with. Why do we have to deal with it? Not only for our loved ones (so we can help them if they’re ever feeling blue), but also because life tests us to see what we are capable of and who we are. You wouldn’t be an imperfect, unique, fleshed-out human being if everything came easily to you.
5. Face the truth.
This one is definitely the hardest but the most crucial step. It’s the hardest because we face the truth every day, but we’ve gotten so good at putting it under lock-and-key in order to survive. Why does survival entail compartmentalizing our beliefs, desires, and fears? Because in order to live comfortable lives, not the ones we want to live, it is most convenient for us to hide our feelings, and, therefore, who we are. But survival is not your objective—life is. Facing the truth is quite painful, to be honest. But you cannot live the life you want to live without unlocking who you are from the depths of your mind.
I won’t lie to you and say your life will get much better the minute you start facing the truth. It’s a gradual process. However, your life will significantly improve if you live it the way you want to with a sense of control and hopefully purpose. Good luck!