How to Manage the Stress of Returning to School
Friday, February 8th, 2008College can be a wonderful, enlightening and socially fulfilling time of life for most students. However, for the adult student balancing school, work and family can be stressful and overwhelming. If part of that balancing act includes dealing with a financial crisis, a sick child or an absent spouse, the stress can seem at times to be unbearable. There are ways to deal with college-related stress and keep your sanity in check.
Take the time to get organized, make a plan and ask for help. These are all tips that all students should heed, especially those who are older and are up to their eyeballs in responsibilities outside of the college halls.
There are three ways to reduce the stress of going to school and balancing other daily responsibilities. Your studies and papers are important and should command a certain place of priority for the serious student. One way of beating the stress of missed deadlines is to be organized not only with your class assignments but also with all of your responsibilities. Plan your days and put it down in writing so that you can refer to your day-planner and at a glance know what has to be done yet that day. Don’t let appointments sneak up on you, or work deadlines catch you unprepared. Use a highlighter to color-code which items are school, work or family. Don’t be shy about asking for help from professors, classmates, friends or family when you first begin to feel the squeeze and you feel like you are losing control of your obligations. Especially important are the end of term or end of year classes; they tend to hit when we are tired and overworked. Ask for extensions from professors, ask classmates to form study groups, or friends to help with family projects like raking the yard, or packing your dorm room at the end of term.
Use a day-planner or calendar to keep track of when all your responsibilities are required to be done. Mark down all exam dates, paper due dates, labs, midterms and finals. Keeping all these dates in one place instead of written in class notes. This will help you to see at a glance what is due each week. Being able to get an overall picture of all your class assignments in one place will give you some perspective on what is top priority and what can wait a day or two. Record in the same day-planner the out-of-school responsibilities that you have including work, and family obligations. Include dental and doctor appointments, work deadlines, family dinners or events so that you don’t forget about them. Make daily things to do (TTD) lists and check off each item as you accomplish it. Do the toughest assignments first if possible to get them out of the way and to do them while you are the most alert.
Communicate by email with professors to let them know if you are having difficulty in plenty of time so that they can steer you in the direction of help (college tutors, helpdesk, or help Websites. Letting a professor know the day a paper is due, that you do not understand the subject matter will not give your professor much time to help you. If you find yourself, running out of time to complete assignments, try to set an alarm on your cell phone, PDA or other electronic device to remind you of important dates and times. Take advantage of writing and math labs that are set up to check papers and give feedback on ways to make improvements. Make sure your professors and boss know that you are both an employee and a student; you might be surprised at how understanding they might be.
Returning to school after a long lay-off can be overwhelming, but by staying organized, making sure lines of communication stay open, and prioritizing the experience can be quite rewarding in the end.
Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Stress Management.
Tags: adult student, Stress Management
