I’m a third-year student but as I have started my study abroad, I have found myself feeling the same nerves I did two years ago in my first year at Glasgow. Protecting your peace and learning to assuredly say no to things is a skill that every student has to learn. The beginning of the academic year is an inevitable shock to the system that is often impossible to fully prepare for but let me assure you that this isn’t really the catastrophe that it might feel like.
We will all see students with their diaries or some kind of spreadsheet in class or in the library, looking like they have their life perfectly organised. As we should all know by now, there is usually more to a story than what we see, and displaying your organisation skills is different to really applying them. You’ll see the difference when mid-terms arrive.
I will admit I have found myself envious of those who appear so well put-together, which of course has ended in me both buying a physical calendar and using an online one. Personally, I can count the number of times I have used my paper one on one hand, while my online calendar remains my favourite with beautiful colour coding, brightly emphasising the social activities that I have to look forward to in a striking yellow.
Comparison with others, both in real life and on social media, although sometimes motivating, is a slippery slope that can crush your spirits faster than you can walk up the University Avenue hill. There’s no denying that it can be fun to idealise university, so long as you remember that those times you’ve envisioned will arrive without having to attend everything. The people you see posting your vision on Instagram have days to themselves, they’re just not showing you that.
As a Glasgow University student especially, make the most of your beautiful campus, or if you’re on a study abroad, you can still admire your new campus or somewhere else in your new environment. Everyone tells you to try and move every day, even if it’s just a walk, but for me this went hand-in-hand with romanticising my studies and paying attention to my surroundings and all of their glory. Imposter syndrome is a real thing that can make you feel so isolated at university but just give it a fair chance. Others give themselves credit for getting here, and so should you.
Catching up on uni work is often easier than clearing the mental fog that grows every time you worry over a solvable problem until your vision becomes so clouded that problems seem larger than they are. It’s ok to pause for a moment and just breathe, feel the ground beneath you, look around and ground yourself back to the real world rather than the overcast one in your mind.
Not every thought and feeling has to be kept in your mind. Talk to your family, friends or a therapist if you’re struggling and it will get better eventually. A quick way to free up space in your mind is to just write down how you’re feeling, it doesn’t have to be neat, I mean really, who is going to read it? Take any negativity out of your mind because no one needs it stored there. Use a journal or write it on a loose piece of paper and rip it up into as many pieces as feels necessary for an extra therapeutic feeling.
Unfortunately for all students, our sleep schedules aren’t as flexible as we might hope, and that nap after a day of lectures isn’t going to have the same effect as getting a solid 8 hours of sleep at night so you can enjoy those daylight hours you need. Sleep gives you mental clarity that we all need and a lack of it will show you how truly connected your physical and mental health are. Have you ever noticed how your problems feel worse later at night or when you’re tired?
University isn’t supposed to be easy but that certainly doesn’t mean you’re supposed to suffer either. By the end of my fresher’s year, I had an album’s worth of photos from Buff Club and Hive and have since sighed a sigh of relief that the £5 card minimum in the Glasgow University Union is no more. However, the most important thing is that you remember that help is always there when you need it. You’re not alone and plenty of other students have been where you are now and made it through.
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