Balancing Acts: How to Juggle School and Mental Health

Hello and welcome back to week #2 of Keystone’s Wellness blog! For this week’s topic we will discuss the delicate balancing act of achieving academic goals while maintaining good mental health. I’ll start off with a quick questionnaire and reflection…

Do any of these situations sound familiar to you?

Staying up until the early hours of the morning to get that assignment you’ve been pushing off done?
Feeling your motivation slipping, feeling overwhelmed and finding it hard to concentrate on your work?
Noticed an increase in anxiety around exams, tests and assignment deadlines?
Feeling pressured to achieve high marks and experiencing self-doubt?
Experiencing fatigue, irritability, and exhaustion the further you get through the school year?
Putting your physical health and/ or mental health on the back burner due to academic stress?

If you’ve answered Yes to any of the above, you are not alone! You may or may not be familiar with the term “burnout,” an all too common result of prolonged stress that leads to feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion. One of the big sources of this stress for many young people is school and academic performance (I know, shocking). Learning how to take care of our mental health while school or work is taking up space in our lives is no small feat. However, there are ways that we can prevent this feeling of the world coming crashing down on us… Or at the very least, lessen it a little. With the end of the first half of the school year inching closer, let’s explore the connection between mental health and good grades and familiarize ourselves with strategies to help us get through the second half smoothly.

Strategy 1: Understand the Connection

Think of our mind as an engine that powers how well we do in school. When we are taking care of our mental health our mind (engine) is running smoothly- helping us focus, understand things easily, and remember what we learn. However, when stress, anxiety and other mental health challenges start to affect us, our mind begins to run slow and rough. Focusing and remembering things can become difficult and learning doesn’t feel like it comes as naturally. Stress can disrupt our sleep making it even harder to concentrate and further affecting our motivation to complete schoolwork. It’s a cycle; school can cause us stress, making it harder to achieve our academic goals, further increasing the amount of stress we’re feeling and so on and so forth.

Here’s the good news: when we find a good balance between taking care of our mental health and managing schoolwork, things DO get easier! When we take the time to address and manage our anxieties and stressors, we are helping our brains to work better. When our brains work better, tackling school stuff becomes a whole lot easier. It’s similar to recharging your phone- it works better and lasts longer.

It’s not about choosing one or the other, but making both work together to feel good mentally and achieve academic goals.

Strategy 2: Be Kind to Yourself

This may seem a bit silly to list as a strategy, but while battling school stress, it comes in handy. It’s easier to be hard on ourselves when things don’t go as planned, rather than giving ourselves some grace. Practicing kindness with yourself means giving yourself a break and understanding that not everything works out how we originally planned. Treat yourself like you would a good friend or a peer you are tutoring- be gentle, celebrate successes or progress in full and offer yourself words of encouragement rather than criticism. This very simple approach can help reduce our stress levels and boost self-esteem, ultimately helping us manage an academic workload more efficiently. Remember, balancing school with a positive mindset is all about practice and progress, not perfection.

Strategy 3: Practice Time Management

School is just one of the million other things that students have going on in their lives. Prioritizing your time helps you to focus on what is most important while also leaving you room to have fun, however that looks for you! Start by setting SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound) goals for school and doing things you love. If it’s a big goal or maybe a big assignment, break it down into more manageable chunks and put it in a schedule. Cramming in five hours of studying as a way to be productive may sound like it works, but it is not sustainable to get into the habit of doing. This way, you can set reasonable expectations for yourself for how much work you are completing in a certain amount of time. Using your phone as a planner, a physical agenda and study apps are all useful tools to help keep you on track. Set a schedule that works for you, and don’t shame yourself if it doesn’t go how you planned; instead, reevaluate and see what needs changing so that your schedule is best suited for what you can realistically manage.

Here’s an example of what a Monday night could look like on your schedule:

4:00-5:30: Complete 6 pages of the Eng. assignment due in two weeks.
6:00-7:30: Go to the gym
8:00-10:00: Free time (watch movies, play video games, relax, etc)

By mastering time management, you’re not just managing your schedule; you’re practicing a valuable skill that helps us achieve our goals while maintaining our personal well-being.

Strategy 4: Reach Out

When you’re walking the tightrope juggling deadlines, exams, and your social life, it’s okay to ask for support to find that balance. If mental health challenges are starting to affect your well-being or academic performance, please consider reaching out to someone you trust. With them, discuss the challenges you’re facing and brainstorm strategies to better manage your workload. Sometimes, just having a supportive conversation with someone can help ease the weight on your shoulders, more so than you might expect. Achieving a balance between school and well-being doesn’t have to be a challenge you take on on your own. Seeking out help doesn’t mean you’re giving up either; it means you’re taking proactive steps to make your own life easier down the road. Strive for regular check-ins with the trusted person of your choice, asking for help doesn’t need to be a one-time thing! Whatever you’re struggling with, know that you don’t have to do it alone.

In the hustle and bustle of student lives, it’s not easy to create balance between academics, hobbies and social life. If we understand the connection between mental health and school, find self-compassion, practice time management and muster the courage to seek out help, it becomes a lot easier to find harmony in our busyness. Success and well-being can walk hand-in-hand, it never has to be one or the other! School doesn’t have to be miserable and you don’t have to suffer alone. Embracing these approaches together, we can ensure our academic journeys ahead of us are fulfilling, rewarding and balanced.