I’m often just tired these days. Balancing my job and university responsibilities can be a lot, but I manage to stay on track with my studies. I’ve set aside dedicated time for studying, which keeps me ahead of schedule and able to handle everything calmly.
Mostly, I have learned how to balance everything: studies, jobs, hobbies, this blog, dancing, social life, health, cooking, and exercise. I have done a lot to stick to my plans and to be as healthy as possible so that I do not burn out and can be calm and live without stress.
My journal entries for the past six months often reflect how exhausted I feel but also how relieved I am once I’ve finished everything. This semester, I’m tackling three math courses: linear algebra, algebra, and calculus. It’s challenging, with so many new concepts to grasp, but I believe I’ll get the hang of it with time.
I hope.
I feel like university is taking over my life a bit.
I swore that would never happen, but my social life is suffering a bit because I do not have any other time to meet with friends than Friday nights after my job at 19.
Of course, you cannot have everything.
I want to do well this semester. Especially with math, I plan to spend as much time as is necessary to understand concepts. I am learning from videos, other lectures, and books too.
It is a lot.
But I feel at peace. There is not one moment when I feel overwhelmed. I am doing everything in a timely manner, and mostly I am ahead. I was sick for a week, so I am a bit behind on theory, but otherwise, I am golden.
I believe that it is normal that I feel tired.
I wake up at 5:40 and get home only at 21:00. At 21:30, I have already gone to sleep. It is a tight schedule, but I can do this. On Saturdays, I usually sleep in because Fridays are social time. And Sundays are for rest. That is actually what helps me go on.
The one thing that has saved me in university is my one rule: take my health seriously. That also means making rest a priority. What works for me is a rest day — Sunday — where I do not plan anything and can do whatever I want or nothing at all. I do not have responsibilities. That time is just for me.
I will write a post about it someday and put a link here.
The point is that I take it seriously. No matter how much I have to do, I do not do anything on Sundays. I do not even plan — I do not think about anything that day.
It seems unrealistic, but from my experience, it is possible if you make it a priority.
If I am overwhelmed with work and have taken off some of my responsibilities and commitments, I will start working or studying on the rest day. For example, in December, when I was working, studying, dancing, writing this blog, socialising, and doing other things, I felt too tired to do anything. I took a week off from studies for my mental health and dropped dancing and my blog so that I could finish the semester. But I did not touch my rest day. I created more rest so that I have more energy. I figured at that time that I needed more time to do the same things than I had before, so I created that time and energy.
It is realistic; it is just a matter of priorities. What is most important to you? For me, it is my health — mental and physical — because without them I could not do anything, and I know how it feels when one or the other fails. Your life stops or breaks down.
I have also changed my approach to learning.
I have let go of the need to be at the top.
I used to be the one who wanted to be the best at everything. Be my best. I put so much effort into the subjects that did not come naturally to me that I neglected the things that brought me joy and that I had talents at.
I decided to leave this mindset in high school.
Now I am focused on my interests, specifically AI and programming, not grades. I have lowered my high expectations for myself. I do not ask for perfection anymore.
I put in the effort to get 6. It is fascinating that I still get good grades; I still have an average of 8 and am in the top 15%.
The 80%-20% rule works.
In 20% of your time, you do 80% of your work, and the other 80% of your time is for details. I figured that I did not want to waste my time getting 10. I would rather use my time for my hobbies and other projects. So I have good grades, and I am spending less time on them. Also, I put understanding as a priority; I would rather understand a concept than get a good grade.
I use this for math too; I want to understand the concepts because I know I will need them in the future. There is another side to this: I do not need to understand everything perfectly. I have put my mind to doing the minimum — anything plus if I have the time. Wisely, when I concentrate on the minimum, I understand more and can do more.
This helps me not get stuck in unnecessary details that do not matter. I concentrate on the most important things — the minimum — and get the core concepts down as best I can. And when you have the core, you can build more knowledge on top of that.
To do all this, I need the best planning — to be on top of what I am doing.
Here comes time management.
It is a skill that I have gotten pretty good at. I am still learning, but I think I have gotten it to the point where I can really trust my plan and execute it. If I plan it, I can trust myself that it will be done.
One of the things I am still learning is that energy levels matter. I am learning when I am the most energetic and what tasks are good for me when I do not have any energy.
How do I plan? I have already written that — time management made simple.
Overall, I am at peace. Sometimes it is hard to motivate myself to go to lectures because I feel like I could learn all of it by myself a lot faster, but otherwise, I am in love with my life.
I like what I am learning, my job, and my personal projects.