Tangoing with Time

A big stressor for me in school is time management. I have always been bad at managing time. I have tried plenty of things to better my skills such as setting goals or carrying around a daily planner, but nothing seems to work. Granted I get everything done when it is supposed to be I often still cram stuff together. It is unhealthy and mentally exhausting. I am slowly improving my time management, and although it is little at a time I am already noticing a difference in my mental health. The first couple of weeks in school were going great, I was staying on top of my work, and I felt like I was managing my time. All my classes but one were in person and I was intimidated by the one online class. I didn’t believe I could succeed in an online course.  

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Personally, online classes were not an option for me. I wanted nothing to do with online classes, so my advisor made sure my classes were all in person. A week or two before the semester started, I got an email that the class was being moved to an online course. I pondered on the news for a couple of days going back and forth with myself debating on dropping the class or sticking it out. I decided to stick it out and hoped for the best. The most intimidating thing about the class being online was that it was accelerated. I continued to keep up with the work from all my classes for the next couple of weeks. Until the online course workload started to get overwhelming and I decided to push other class work off for the online course. I would get irritated and emotional because it was taking me so long to understand what was being taught, and there were multiple things due in a day EVERYDAY! Most days I wouldn’t finish right until the last minute. I would go to bed without doing work for any other class. It caught up to me and I had to stay up all night a few nights in a row to catch up on the work I pushed off. I realized how bad my mental health gets when I don’t make enough time to do work for each class. My online course is finished now, and I am trying new techniques to help me manage my time better to take the stress and the mental load down a few notches. 

The Return

I have always planned to go to college, I just did not know when. A few short years after high school I decided I was ready, and it was time to enroll. I was incredibly nervous to say the least, but with all the support from my family and friends I became more confident and excited. It has been a little over a month into my first semester of my first year and although it has been rough, I am really loving the fact I am here sticking to the plan. Returning to school as an adult is common, and has its pros and cons, but there are more pros than cons!  

A con for me is having to relearn a few things or needing a refresher such as math! I have a family and a house, so I do not live in the student dorms. Not living on campus makes me a commuting student. One of the biggest cons as a commuting student is not having the time to attend the events or clubs on campus as most of them are later in the day. A Pro as a commuting student for me personally is being able to be with my family every day. Another pro is having all the help you need; but you must be able to ask for help. Personally, one of the biggest pros I would like to talk about is going to college when you are ready and not when you are “expected” to. Attending college when I was ready is easily one of the best things I could have done for myself. I feel more confident, and I am ready for whatever challenges lie ahead.

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