Work/life balance at university

Hello everyone! Today I’d like to give some tips on how you may want to approach your university lifestyle to enable you to have a good work life balance.

Working whilst at university

Let’s start with working whilst at university. In my first year of university, I got a part time job in retail. This enabled me to earn some extra income and be more financially stable. However, looking back, there are definitely some things I wish I did differently.

I had a high amount of contact hours in my first year, and had lectures Monday – Friday. On top of this, I was working Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. As a result, I struggled to find time to study which affected my ability to keep up with the fast pace of university. I also didn’t give myself enough time to rest, which affected my overall wellbeing.

I think the mistake I made was starting with too many working hours in my job. I did eventually ask for my hours to be reduced, but by that time, I had already fallen behind on studying and creating revision notes, and it was very difficult to try to catch back up afterwards.

However, I don’t want this to deter anyone from working whilst at university, because it is possible to have balance. My advice would be to try and start with a smaller number of working hours per week. Then, when you start your course, and start working at your job alongside your course, you can determine for yourself if you think the working hours are too small or too much and ask for it to be adjusted accordingly.

Taking time for your wellbeing

University can feel overwhelming at times especially when you’re first starting out. It’s important that students have a balance between studying and taking care of their wellbeing. It’s really important that you have enough sleep, eat a balanced diet, give yourself enough breaks from studying, and have an active social life. This will prevent you from getting burnt out.

My advice is to establish positive routines for studying, socialising and leisure. Try to schedule some time each week to take a break from studying. You can spend that time resting, listening to music, doing a physical activity, doing a hobby, hanging out with friends, or doing any activity that helps you de-stress. And if you do feel like you are stressed or need help, then reach out to your friends, family, personal tutor, or from the wellbeing team at your school/college.

If you’re someone who struggles to peel yourself away from your studies, then societies can be a great help. Societies will generally, have a set time each week to meet and do activities. If you enjoy the society and have friend at the society, it will motivate you to keep going each week. This allows you to have regular breaks from studying throughout the semester.