Recently, it has hit me that my time in college is coming to an end fairly quickly. I entered college as a freshman in the fall of 2020. College has definitely been different for me from my first semester on campus to now ending my sixth semester on campus.

Over time, my workload for each semester never truly got easier, I had just gotten used to the way my classes ran. Seeing as I am ending my third year of college, my plan is to graduate in the spring of 2024.

It means that it would be in my best interest to have a plan ready for once I walk across the stage. Will I have a job? Will I have to go back home and work a different job before I can move on with my career? Should I apply to graduate school?

It is a lot of pressure and when you have lots of people wanting you to succeed and having different people in your ear regarding what you may want to do after college, it makes it even more stressful.

The reason why we come to college is to secure a success future for ourselves. When we have multiple things on our plate, it can get difficult to actually focus on classes and school overall.

So, what do you do when these thoughts surround you? If school is the most important focus, what about the other aspects of life? The answer is simple yet it can be hard to execute.

You have to find a good balance of all the things you are involved in. You must still make time to focus on homework and studying for tests and quizzes, some have to fit their job into that schedule somehow, and also making sure you set aside time to relax and clear your mind.

I have been through it too much: I pile on my schoolwork with my job along with my extracurricular activities and if I do not make time to take a deep breath and calm myself down when I feel overwhelmed, I wait until my stress has piled up and I explode.

It is an out-of-body experience for me, and I do not like when I act out of character.

Some of the things I like to do to calm myself down when I am feeling really stressed are to listen to music, read a book, or watch a good movie.

These are little things that we can do to help our mental state out a bit. I understand that juggling multiple things at once can be stressful, but it will all come together once we reach our end goal in any circumstance. 

Kyla Moton is a junior English/creative writing major. She can be reached at [email protected] or 217-581-2812.