This week especially, many students have been struggling with how to balance the very real need for self- and community care with the equally necessary and unavoidable grind. Classes are tough, work is hard and finding friends and support can be a real challenge. It’s important to be kind to others, and it’s important to be kind to yourself. Here are a few small ways to effectively balance life and the never-ending workload.
1. Set your work hours.
This one is probably the most difficult, but in my experience, it is the best way to stay sane. Many students will talk about treating law school like an 8 to 5 (and in fact, one Ambassador has already made a blog post about it!), where you show up early, stay a little late, and get as much done as possible. It’s a popular tactic for many, especially students who are not used to school being their entire life again. Doing this allows students to leave work at the door – or even all the way back in Green Hall. Creating this boundary between schoolwork and home life can be crucial in stress management, and for me personally, helps make prioritizing much easier. The subjects that I really struggle with I keep at school, where I can talk to classmates and professors; the subjects that I truly enjoy, I still try my best to keep at school, but I certainly don’t mind reading about Fourth Amendment violations as bedtime stories.
2. Know when to walk away.
No one is perfect, and no one has unlimited patience. It’s important to know when you’ve hit a wall. This goes for schoolwork and for social outings. When you’ve gotten about as far as you can get with work for one class, sometimes it’s better to pivot to another subject instead of forcing yourself through. If you’re slogging your way through a conversation with someone who makes you feel disrespected or uncomfortable, you are not obligated to stay! If your situation stinks, you can hit the bricks. In this atmosphere, it often feels like optics are the most important thing. Everyone wants to be the smartest, or the most hardworking, or the nicest, and if no one else has told you, please let me – none of those things are more important than your well-being.
3. Eat!
This sounds obvious and silly, but many students prioritize reading just one more page or revising their brief one more time over stopping for a snack. And I get it – creating a reward system is pretty intuitive for many of us, and food is a fantastic motivator. It can also feel tough to pull ourselves away from our work when we feel like we’re in “the groove,” whether that’s classwork or club-oriented organizing. Often, whatever we’re doing just feels more important than having a full meal. But nutrition is not only going to keep you going, it’s going to make you a much more efficient machine. Take care of yourself.
–Wren Browne is a 2L KU Law Student Ambassador from Midland, Michigan