The balancing act: how to manage academics, social life and self care.

Have you ever felt so exhausted from studying English that you just can’t continue? Or maybe you feel so guilty after a party that you’re frozen on your chair, thinking about how you could’ve been studying during that party. 

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You are definitely not alone. When it feels like HSC is asking everything of you, doing one simple self care activity can feel so debilitating, as you feel like you are falling behind whilst everyone else is studying. This lack of self care results in less sleep, for example, which leads to less effective studying, and a vicious cycle repeats itself making you feel worse every time. So, how do you stop this? 

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1. Realise that everyone only wants to show their best, and not their worst. 

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Part of establishing a good study schedule is keeping it realistic, and this is very difficult when everyone is describing how they have studied 4 hours of online tutoring after school, had a 30 minute dinner, then studied again for English Advanced another 4 hours. 

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The key thing is that, for people who want to talk a lot about their studies and ‘boast’, it is part of them showing their best to you. So, it is so important to not internalise their best as the standard, as you don’t get to see their rainy days, and neither do they see yours. 

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Once you’ve taken the power of expectations out of their hands, and into yours, you must try to see what actually works for you, and not for other people. Perhaps you work better on 4 hours of study, or maybe 2 hours of intense studying online will get you the same amount of work done. Or maybe you need to have those 3 hours every week of socialising to keep your mental health up to shape, so that you can continue to make it through the exam season. It really does depend on each person. 

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With that in mind, there are some non-negotiable things on the list. 

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2. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 

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According to Maslow’s Hierarchy, activities higher up the hierarchy can’t be reached without the bottom ones being achieved. This means that no matter how painful it is that you may need to lose some time out of studying to go eat, or keep your mental health up by maintaining contact with your friends, they are still very necessary things to do. 

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In fact, balancing all 3 of them by spacing out time slots for each 3 activities ( studying, socialising, self-care) is the key to maximising the efficiency of your studying. You will spend less time debating on which to do, and also maintain your mental health and general wellbeing, which is so vital in that last stretch of the HSC. 

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Even despite this, there is a more important point to follow. 

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3. Finding out how you want to live, even past HSC. 

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You could feel that HSC is the end of the road. It is certainly not. 

Beyond HSC, there is the immediate university option that many people take. But beyond that as well is your whole life ahead of you. Family, friends, travelling, love and many job opportunities lie ahead.

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“Just this once I’ll study past my limit and keep pushing” 

“It’s alright if I’m suffering now, it will all be over after HSC”

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“If I could trade some of my health now for that mark boost in HSC, I’ll take it” 

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The way you live your life won’t change drastically after HSC. Deeply internalised thoughts of self worth with academics, social life and self perception will inevitably follow you after the academic year. 

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It is ultimately up to you to decide if those are happy thoughts, or negative thoughts that will be chasing you to adulthood. 

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And besides, you can have the best of both worlds, studying well and maintaining your support network, so don’t sacrifice one for the other!

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Need to see how our state-ranking tutors balanced their studies and life? Reach out at Concept - we're always happy to help!

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