University is one of the bet times of your life, you will meet amazing people, do amazing things and make memories that will last a lifetime. However you will also encounter stressful situations that will also seem to last forever. As well as meeting new people, learning new things and being thrown head first into a sea of newness, there is also the dreaded ‘D’ word, dissertation. Even for final year students, it seems like it is an age away and some lucky munchkins won’t have to do one but, dissertation or no dissertation, we all need to let ourselves relax once in a while.
There Is More To Uni Than Your Degree
Yes, your focus and unfortunately, vast amounts of money, aims at getting you a good degree. But trust me when I say you will never look back and say I had a great time locked away in my rooms studying alone every night. You need to study but you also need to have something else in your life, something you enjoy that gets you out of the rut of degree work. Join a club, society or team, get on the JCR, write for SCAN. Do something you love, not only will you gain valuable future skills, and who doesn’t love those, but you can use some of that energy to transfer to the deadline. Or that’s what you can tell your parents at least.
Have A Social Life
When you have a deadline looming, taking a break to see your friends, have a drink or generally doing something that isn’t sitting at the computer panicking, seems like a terrible idea. However a few hours away will do you the world of good and can act as a great incentive to meet smaller targets and deadlines. However, a word of warning: having a few drinks is fine, having a few bottles is probably not, wasting a day on throwing up and googling quick fix hangover cures won’t do anyone any good.
There Is A Time And Place For Work
Don’t let non-students convince you that certain hours are off limits for work and like the sun, you must avoid it all costs at certain times of the day. Everyone is different when it comes to productivity, some people can shut their life off for 5 hours at a time to work. Some people, yours truly included, would see a five-year old lasting longer before Grumpy Cat’s latest adventure must be watched. The trick is not setting goals for how long you must work for, but knowing how you work. If you need a break every hour that’s fine, schedule your day so you can still have as many productive working hours as those who can work through the day without needing a regular Youtube fix.
Wine!… Uhm, I Mean … Rewards?
Wine is the best invention in the world ever, it provides comfort, joy and will never let you down. Although I could happily write an article on the joy of wine, the actual point is it is okay to treat yourself. If you have a deadline certain things become okay. It is okay not to go to the gym for the last-minute 1000 word writing rush, its okay to have dominoes twice, both in a day and a week, it actually tastes better leftover. Denying yourself makes things worse, but little treats and pick me ups provide a much needed motivation boost. And lets face it, deadline or not, is it really worth living if you can’t have wine.
Deadlines suck (dissertation or otherwise) and there is no magical solution to working productively and getting it in on time without becoming a walking corpse. However, see your friends, have a few drinks and carry on with your social activity, there is no shame in enjoying life (and wine) alongside the stress of deadlines, after all we know what happened to Jack with all work and no play!
