Balancing School and Self-Care: Tips and Tricks

Most people don’t. The trick is to realize you aren’t the only one struggling and stop beating yourself up over it! But if you’re finding yourself extremely overwhelmed just know that there’s some things you’ll have to give up and not everything has to be perfect. For example, I tend to put way too much effort into my homework and end up spending way too much time on it and end up losing much more sleep than I need to

Try making it into a routine! Now let me say, my routine isn’t the best but it’s better than not having one 😆 Example: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday are my shower days. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Food wise, I met with a dietician and my doctor has made guidelines for me specifically, so that helps. Sleep wise, I usually lay in bed an hour earlier than I need to be asleep so I have time to fiddle and do whatever. Usually I’m asleep on time

I just do as little as I can while still being okay, making sure to set aside fun time even if it means sacrificing perfection

I just push through. I am going to a community college and I have night classes and i work. I just say look you work at a fun place and you have friends that go to school with you and then after night classes I have a drink and snack and then head to bed. No not alcohol because I am not 21 yet.

It's difficult! But I have been using the Finch app and it helps me remember to still do things for me. If I'm particularly busy, I focus on certain things over others. For example, I'll make sure that I get enough sleep no matter how busy or stressed I am, since bad sleep would make it worse. I definitely find it easier to focus on one thing at a time, even though ADHD sometimes tells us that we need to do a whole life reset and change everything all at once!

I don't manage it at all

At times, I pretend I hate the world so much that I want to take revenge on it and show that I really CAN do things. Other times, I have support from friends, family, and my boyfriend. I enjoyed school, I rather be there than at home, so that wasn't a struggle for me. However, with college, I had to drop out at the end of my first week because I was still trying to get control of my Crohn's Disease and it was out of hand at that point. I have sleeping problems, so I sometimes take melatonin. But most of the time I flip myself around and sleep with my head at the foot side of the bed. It strangely helps alot, I just need a different position. Along with having a fan or air conditioner in my face.

I wish I knew because I need to figure it out

I think the thing is that not everyone does, it might seem like it but there are plenty of people who cannot do that and adjust their life around it so they don't have to. As a personal example in high school everything was so hard for me I was asleep in classes, at home after school, on the bus, in the shower, and honestly just anywhere I could physically fall alseep. There was maybe a total of 5 hours that i was awake including classes I couldnt sleep in, walking places, and making and eating dinner. The most I could do to take care of myself was eat and shower once a day which really wasn't enough. But then college rolled around and after failing some of my courses a professor suggested i cut down how many I take and now i only take one or two at a time because that's what I can handle. I know multiple different people who had to drop out because of mental health, physical health, their families financial situation, to have a baby, and tons of other reasons. Some went back or got their GED or chose a different type of schooling and some didn't, not everyone is the same just make the decisions that are healthiest and safest for you and make a plan accommodating it to go forward with your goals.