I wanted to write about a topic I’ve been asked a lot recently, “how do you balance school and work?” I used to brush it off and just say “oh I make it work” until I realized that just making it work wasn’t fulfilling on either end for me. The last few months of taking online courses and working online have been a great time for lots of self-reflection. During this time, I realized that in many ways, I was putting myself on the back burner to take care of other aspects of my life. It seems funny that as a therapist who deeply believes in self-care, I would so mindlessly forget to take care of myself right?? BUT I did and it has been a real wake up call to me!
One of the things I’ve implemented throughout the quarantine into my schedule is the use of set times to do set tasks. What do I mean by that? I mean setting boundaries with myself and working on saying no to tasks that can wait. For example, I’ll give myself about an hour a day to answer emails regarding school, after that hour is up those emails that I didn’t get to can wait till tomorrow.
Setting that boundary and a timeframe is crucial for ME to respect my own time.
Now, I definitely recognize that some people may need to answer emails immediately for work or other reasons which is why this is just one example! The point of this little story of mine is to remember to hold space for yourself. I found my space through time management and setting boundaries with myself and slowly but surely, I’m feeling more fulfilled in the areas of my life where I felt burned out before, like school and work.
As we transition back to some sense of normalcy and college and graduate students begin to go back to classes in person instead of online and you’ve found something that brings you a sense of peace and happiness, could be a hobby, a relaxation technique, anything that feeds your creative soul, this is your reminder to continue to make time for it even when we return back to “the normal” world.
Much Love,
Julia
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