Honestly, it’s difficult to manage my mental health on my own sometimes. I’ve never been good at being alone, and I’m alone more often than not at this point in my life. Don’t get me wrong–I love college. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to pursue my education further and study what I’m passionate about. But that doesn’t mean college doesn’t come with financial, emotional, social, and sometimes physical stress. I manage it all by doing several things, such as keeping myself productively occupied or distracted. I also acknowledge that I’m currently a broke college student, so I’ve come up with ways to manage my mental health during this temporary period of my life.
To Begin…
I’m constantly writing things down in my planner and notes app. I write down every task I need to accomplish and check it off as I do them. I use my notes app for grocery lists, to keep track of vinyls I have and want, for YouTube video ideas, writing ideas, and more. Keeping track of tasks and goals allows for organization, management of emotions and productivity, increased motivation, and reminders of accomplishments and growth. It’s important to keep track of everything from appointments, to ideas, to birthdays, and more, so that you never miss anything.
Budgeting is your best friend. It is helpful to write a list or keep a spreadsheet of monthly expenses you have, such as rent, any bills, any streaming services you have, insurance, groceries, etc. This serves as a visual reminder of your budget and keeps you on the right track.
Don’t deprive yourself. Yes, people’s financial situations are extremely varied, but depriving yourself of literally anything you may consider “extra” or “a want rather than a need” is going to drive you insane and/or significantly impact your mental health. So, you have to work on finding that balance between saving money and spending some on yourself so you can truly live a fulfilling, stable, healthy, happy, sustainable lifestyle. Self-deprivation is not required for a good budget.
Prioritize school. You’re probably spending money on school, and you’re probably paying to be at school. Don’t waste your money; go to class unless you can’t. Plus, for me, I enjoy going to class because I’m learning about what I’m interested in. Your main priorities as a college student, in my opinion, should be school, yourself, your relationships, and making enough money to live.
Prioritize self-care and your mental health and well-being. When your mind is clogged with stress, worry, depression, or other negative emotions, then it’s difficult to find the motivation to prioritize other important aspects of your life, like school, work, relationships, etc. Without basic self-care, you’re bound to fall into a pit of depression, low motivation, or low self-esteem, and it’s crucial to avoid getting to that place. Take care of your hygiene, shower, brush your teeth, go to therapy, take your medication, if applicable, and make time for decompression. Remember to always participate in activities that fulfill you.
Make sure you’re nourishing and hydrating your body properly. Sometimes cooking real meals can be daunting or seem expensive, but they don’t have to be. Meal prepping and planning can be really helpful in making sure you’re eating healthily, and it takes a lot of stress off of food in general for me, as someone who’s struggled with an eating disorder for years and generally gets stressed about food, and even more so now that we’re broke and on our own. Overall, ensure you take care of the body that allows you to do what you enjoy doing and need to do. Eat as well as you can, drink water, and take care of your hygiene, which are simple, but truly impactful aspects of your overall well-being and will impact work, school, and relationships.
Make sure you’re sleeping well enough too! My body naturally wakes me up at 5-5:30 ish every morning, so I’m naturally pretty tired by like 9 or sometimes a little before or after that, but I make sure that I go to sleep early enough to function after waking up that early, no matter what. But for anyone, even if your circadian rhythm isn’t all weird like mine, get enough sleep, if you are not well-rested then you are not going to be able to function properly as a human being or a student. Proper sleep provides us with proper energy to fulfill our duties in work, school, and life.
Reduce the unnecessary stressors in your life. I love coffee, but if I drink too much of it, I’ll get anxious and jittery, so I balance how much I drink it. I limit myself to one or two cups per day. If you have toxic people in your life that you don’t need to deal with, cut them out! It’s crucial to do what you can to reduce the factors in your life that not only don’t serve you any purpose but also cause harm to your potential success. Cut the worst-case scenario thinking, tardiness, rehashing of stressful situations, clutter/disorganization of your environment (we’ll get more into this in a minute), and procrastination. All of these things merely add to the unavoidable stressors of college life. Do yourself a favor and make things as easy as possible for yourself by actively taking the steps to abolish your unhealthy habits. Positive self-affirmations and shifting your perspective about certain situations can truly help. In terms of procrastination, one thing you can do is break down larger goals into smaller, more manageable tasks.
If you can, go to events at your school. My school doesn’t have many and it’s a small school, with a small class, so it’s hard for me to socialize a lot. So, if you have more opportunities to socialize with classmates, take advantage of it! It’s part of the college experience…I think.
Take advantage of student discounts when you can. My school works with some companies for us to get discounts but there are plenty of companies like Target, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, and Helix that offer student discounts with a verified student ID. Most importantly, don’t spend money you don’t have. Some subscriptions, fast food meals, or extra goodies aren’t necessary and self-restraint is crucial for a broke college student.
Find some sort of creative outlet for yourself. Even if you’re not necessarily a creative person, picking up some sort of creative outlet like playing an instrument, writing, poetry, editing, reading, whatever, can be tremendously beneficial for overall mental well-being. I’m a writer, in school for creative writing, so engaging with creative work is even more beneficial for someone like me.
Find cheap or free activities to participate in to occupy yourself while not in class or doing work. For me, my school schedule is sporadic and I have classes one to four times a week, and up until recently, I was able to get pretty much all of my work done in class. As school has progressed, I have more work to do, but I still have a lot of time when I don’t have anything scheduled or anything to get done. I pick up shifts for work at Target regularly, but still, I feel like there are a lot of times when I feel like I have nothing to do, and because I’m not doing anything productive, I start to feel worthless, hopeless, lethargic–just negative emotions. So having some activities to do during downtime is so important to your overall emotional well-being. That can coincide with a creative outlet, like writing, reading, or editing, you can get into a new series or YouTube channel, you can go to a park, thoroughly clean your place, hang out with a pet if you have one, cook or meal prep/meal plan, video chat with family. Several activities can be “productive” or “entertainment,” and they can aid in keeping you occupied, in a stable headspace, entertained, fulfilled, and prepared.
Stay organized! Have a physically tidy environment around you, and organize all of your schoolwork. I have a calendar planner that I use every day to keep track of everything I want or need to accomplish each day and month, which you can use to track assignments, extracurriculars, work, or any other activities or tasks you have planned or need to accomplish. I also have folders on my laptop for each class’s work. Most of the work I do for school is online, as I expect most schools to do, so I highly recommend keeping everything organized on your computer. Maintain a clean space. Having a cluttered environment leads to a cluttered mind, and we don’t want that.
All in all, managing your mental health in college doesn’t have to be this daunting, impossible task. It’s easier said than done to implement these techniques, but with some effort, motivation (see: Discovery of Intrinsic Motivation), determination, and practice, it becomes more natural. Remember, college has no set time frame and is a moment in the grand scheme of life.
SEE ALSO: The Importance of Sleep in Academic Performance in College
