[ferreinm]

Kick Your Life Back on Track

By NICOLE FERREIRA, MACINSIDERS

Midterm season can really affect a person. You can be thrown midterms back to back for three days straight, plus two essays and a random assignment. Sometimes your time management skills just don’t cut it. You get drained—and fast! Some schools (like Sheridan College) are fortunate enough to have a reading week in first term. While at first I was opposed to a first term reading week, I’m starting to realize why it’s essential. Often times at this point of the year people begin to lose motivation. You start questioning why you wanted to go to university anyway. Is it really worth all of the stress? Is your passion for your program dying? While you might think that you’re in the wrong program, you might actually be in the right program. The problem is losing motivation after being super overwhelmed. So, what should we do when we lose motivation?

Breathe. I know you probably don’t even have time to do that right now. There aren’t enough hours in a day to do everything. Trust me, deep breath in, wait 10 seconds, now exhale. We would sometimes prefer to lie in bed all day or to just sit and stare at a wall but seriously that’s a pretty ineffective use of time. So after we’re done some breathing let’s get on with the day and do something!

Take care of yourself!!! I know that I always forget to do this. Seriously, let me ask you, are you sick right now? Yeah, I know you’re nodding your head. Most of us are. Our bodies are crashing. We overwork ourselves with volunteer work, jobs and school. We need to get good grades and have an amazing resume. But in all honesty, who cares about good grades when your body can’t function anymore. We’re only in October if your body begins to breakdown now your grades won’t be looking so good by December. You come first. School is secondary. We often forget that which is terrible. Make sure you eat healthy, sleep for more than 5 hours (yes, it’s definitely possible) and take breaks. You work hard you definitely deserve a break. Give yourself to yourself and no one else. You’re not a superhero you don’t need to be everywhere at once. Pay attention to the warning signs! If you’re beginning to get sick or burn out—work on preventing it now. Once you get sick, it’ll take a few weeks to get better. Yet, if you burn out, man, that could take months. Do yourself the favour of listening to your body. If you need an extension on a paper because you’re gonna burn out then ask for one. YOU come first—ALWAYS!

Talk to someone about it. How many people are there at Mac that you can talk to if you’re losing motivation? I have no idea but I can tell you it’s a pretty big number! You can talk to people at CSD, your friends, your CAs, your IRC reps, your professors even! Nobody wants you to be in the slumps. We want to see you succeed. We believe in you. This season takes a toll on almost all of us. Suicide rates go up during this time of year and there are way better solutions than that and you know it. People will refer you to the right people to help kick some motivation back into your life.

While I’m not counselor and don’t know how to cure motivation loss, I do know that I keep pushing through. Sometimes we just need to fight it out until the end. Exams finish earlier this year too!! Come on, you can’t deny the amazingness of finishing exams on December 17th. We have two more months to go. We’re halfway there!! Yippie! We can do it! Remain hopeful. Think about all of the sleep you’ll enjoy during the holidays, all of the home cooked meals or even those possible vacations south of the border. University is only four years long don’t make it feel longer. Enjoy the moments as they come because in a moment they’re gone. Even if everything is a mess, it’s only a moment long and then it’s over.