It’s finals week. You have exams, a paper to write, speech to give, and a book to finish. Mid-week, life happens. An unforeseeable circumstance completely out of your control threatens to throw you off. Wednesday was the day you were going to finish that speech and get through that book. Wednesday now belongs to fate. School work must be set aside and life must be dealt with. This is one of those daunting times where students inevitably fall off the wagon and compromise their GPA. Luckily, life doesn’t have to completely derail us when it throws us a curveball
Here are a few tips to keep you on track.
1. Immediately let your professors know what’s going on. The more informed they are, the more understanding they will be (as a general rule). It’s a good idea to let them know what’s happening as soon as possible. They might be willing to work with you or at least be understanding.
2. Pace yourself. Life can hit us on an emotional level making it harder to concentrate and easier to procrastinate. DO NOT procrastinate. It will only make the situation harder. By pacing yourself- committing to a little bit of work throughout the day or week- you will be able to keep up with your studies and still address the matters at hand.
3. Seek help from friends. Even if it just means venting to someone, hold yourself accountable to another person. Difficult situations are easier to swallow if we have support. Going it alone isn’t worth the emotional struggle. Sometimes, we all need someone to lean on.
4. Remember your goals. It really is easier than it should be to let one life event derail us from our goals. Remember the long term. Keep in mind what you are striving for. Make a commitment to yourself to not give up.
Photo credit: Flickr.com user John-Morgan
Whether we are in college, on the job front, or back at home, life can be unpredictable, but it doesn’t have to be unmanageable. Remember that unpredictable occurrences are nothing more than a fact of life. The less you resist, the easier it becomes.