This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Toronto chapter.

Edited By: Tanmaya Ramprasad

I know having my final year of university online sucks but, we can only make the best of it. Here are some of my favourite tips and trick to stay sane during this semester!

1. Have your Space!

Creating an area for a school that is separate from the rest of your life is essential to ensure that you have the right environment to focus on school. I enjoy using my desk as a starting point! Although I live in the tiniest studio apartment ever, I try to make my desk the centre point for school (and not my bed).

Some tips that I suggest is to jazz up your space. I have added some plants, pictures of family and friends, fairy lights, and organizational storage for pens and notebooks to keep my space organized and easily accessible.

2. Use your Resources!

There are many digital organizational tools to use to keep organized! I normally use Google Drive to keep all my courses in order but there are so many tabs and I can get lost really quick. But, I recently discovered a more *aesthetically* pleasing resource…

Have you heard of Notion? It’s a free, user-friendly all-in-one workspace! There are templates you can use to organize class notes, to-do lists, course syllabus, and more! You can design it with any colours, pictures, and frames that you like!

It’s an awesome resource for university students trying to keep organized and all in one place. My colleague, Tanmaya Ramprasad (UToronto ’21), mentioned that it’s important to keep up with lecture materials. Notion has the perfect template that combines your schedule and all of the required lectures and assignments into one to-do list!

3. Take (Safe) Breaks!

The lockdown restrictions have really been testing my mental health especially, during a long day of school online. It’s super important to schedule breaks during the day to ensure that you can give your brain a #break.

Some things I enjoy doing are going for a walk to new and local coffee shop (#supportlocal), wandering to new areas of the city, trying different workouts (with the help of UofT Fitness Classes), and chatting with friends (virtually, of course)!

4. Participate!

Although we might be sitting in our childhood bedrooms for lectures, the ability to unmute and participate in class is a great way to feel like your sitting in a lecture hall. The more you can do to make it feel somewhat normal is a great opportunity to try and enjoy the semester. I also enjoy talking with profs during their office hours and not have to worry about the stress of commuting from building to building.

5. Indulge in Self-Care

I don’t see any rule that you can’t listen to your lecture in a face mask and pjs…so there might actually be a positive to online school. We should always try our best to look at the positives during this negative time, I know it helps me!

Our mental health is extremely important especially now, so spending the time to do little things for yourself is allowed! Whatever you can do to de-stress is beneficial for your mental health. We will get through this together!

If you need more help, please reach out to resources around you. Here is the link to the UofT health and wellness website: https://studentlife.utoronto.ca/department/health-wellness/

5 Ways to Stay Sane for Another Semester of Online School