Balancing school or work with my social life has never come natural to me so I have had to learn from my past mistakes and grow. During my first couple years of college I focused on making new friends over school work because I was new and if you know me, then you know I can be extremely stand off-ish. I wanted to make friends then so that the rest of my college experience I could build upon those relationships while focusing on school. I ended up making the long lasting friendships, but I screwed myself and my future over in the process. If I could go back to college and start fresh, I would definitely do it a bit differently. I would focus more on setting the bar high grade wise, then worry about friendships the second half of college.
Because of my mistake, I got bad grades freshman year and did not get into the teaching program at Biola, which caused me to be a year behind. I broke down and had no idea what that meant for my future. Was I not supposed to be a teacher?? If not, what in the world was God calling me to do?? Things began to fall into place, but not until a year and a half later when I realized I was able to change my major to something that was very similar yet slightly different in the fact that I wouldn't be graduating with my credential, but I would be graduating on time, which was what I cared about most.
Balancing school/work with my social life was hard, but I feel like I am much better at it now. I do think a social life is important, but I think school and work are more important in the long run. I think it is important to keep the social life to the weekend unless it is a youth group or sports practice/game. Even for the youth group, if you have homework to do, skip youth group. I never used to do that and I would screw myself over by getting home late and not wanting to do my work. Senior year I realized that homework needed to get done before I could do anything because if I waited then it would never get done. Even in my relationship with Joey, we both promised the other to focus on school and work during the week then we would hangout on the weekend. This plan has helped in both my relationship with Joey and getting my school work done. Distance makes the heart grow fonder let me tell yeah!
Through all of my mistakes and experiences I have learned that there will be things you have to miss out on to get your work done, but God will provide you with better experiences later on. I do not regret missing out on the things that I did, but I do regret not getting the work done that I should have. I was still able to have a healthy social life with my friends, family, and Joey all while getting my work done and getting enough sleep because SLEEP IS SO IMPORTANT. If I could have told my young self anything, it would have to be that there WILL be other plans and days to hangout with friends, but there WON'T always be more time to get your work done. Treat your learning with importance because it sets a base in your life. You can always make friends and be a social butterfly another time. Spend your time getting your work done then when you do have a social life, it will feel SO MUCH better to not have to worry about what tasks need to get done.
You can find a balance between school/work and a social life without leaving your friends in the dust as well. Find that time once a week (preferably on the weekend) when you know you can get your work done by and make plans. Your life does not have to be socially dry to get your work done. There CAN be a balance. If I can find a balance, so can you. I HAVE FAITH IN YOU.
This is such a great topic that I am still not perfect at, but I hope this helps in your life as well as learning more about what makes me, me. Please comment or ask questions; I am here to help and learn as well!
Much love,
Just Annalie
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