For the past few weeks, I’ve been learning how to balance classes and two jobs. It’s been an adjustment, but I love the flexibility of the jobs that allow me to work around my class schedule. I work as a desk clerk at one of the residence halls and I’m a metacognition mentor for a college algebra class where I give feedback to students on their metacognition journals. So far, I love both of my jobs because of the co-workers I’ve met and the actual workload of the jobs isn’t too demanding compared to my food service job that I worked at during high school.

However, I have found myself struggling to balance my schedule. The biggest issue I’ve found is my sleep schedule is poor. On average, I’m getting about 6 to 7 hours of sleep because I wake up either once or twice in the middle of the night. The best thing that I found to combat this issue of sleeping in, is to leave my blinds open so that the natural sunshine is in my face and forces me to get up in the morning. Having a consistent bedtime has helped as well because I know that an hour beforehand, I should start my night routine such as packing my backpack, charging all my electronics, and spending some time reading before I sleep to unwind.

Routines are so important in college, and planning out my day has helped me feel less overwhelmed with my schedule. I find that Monday through Wednesday are my busiest days, with my mornings free on Monday & Tuesday where I allocate that time towards doing homework and studying. However, Tuesday and Thursday are the days that I have the time to sleep in so I’m usually not awake until 10 or even 11 am. Despite the challenges I’ve faced so far in the semester, recognizing these struggles early on is the best thing I could do for myself because now I know what I need to work on. Since coming back to college, I’ve been in such a better headspace than I was a year ago because of the friends I’ve made and the communities I have surrounded myself in.