Dear Agony Aunt,
I’m trying to relax over the holiday break- I want to make the most of this the time with my family away from campus, but I’m worried about leaving my studies behind for a bit. How can I keep up with my work and quiet the guilt about having some downtime?
Dear Reader,
Navigating downtime can be a difficult feat for us students, it’s common to feel guilty about spending time away from our desks. That being said, as students, the holiday break is valuable time to catch up on the time spent away from friends and family during the first semester. Let’s think of a plan. It might vary between courses and exam periods but on average we can expect to have at least 3 weeks away from campus. Cross out the key dates right from your calendar. Don’t even think about your studies on Christmas Day for example- you'll enjoy the holiday much more without looming revision anxieties and when you to eventually return to focus you’ll feel refreshed and ready to get some serious concentration going. Do what you can in advance to quiet your academic anxieties; for some this may look like planning revision tasks for each day down to the hour, for others this might look like organising notes and computer folders, whatever is going to make you feel most confident handling your workload- do! Maybe discuss with your family members what you’re dealing with, explain that perhaps for an hour each evening you’ll need to be left alone to crack on with some work, equally as important, you could ask them for a helping hand once you’ve hit a wall with content to help pull you back into the sociable festive mood. You know yourself better than anyone else, it falls upon your shoulders to decide what you can and cannot handle and most importantly how much you should be attempting to take one. Being burnt out and sad is no way to spend your holidays- chip away at your projects day by day and reward yourself with your favourite winter drink or a night in with friends, who says you have to choose?