1. Take some time for yourself! It can be very overwhelming to go from living at home to living with thousands of other people around your age. As tempting as it is to be hanging out with your new friends 24/7, it is also important to set time aside to focus just on yourself—whether that be to go on a walk, journal about your day, or just relax and watch some Netflix. Whatever will make you feel the best. Trust me, just a small chunk of time to yourself each day will make you feel so much better.
2. Try to eat as healthy as you can: Dining hall food is great because you don’t have to cook for yourself, but it can also be very dangerous when you have unlimited options (especially pizza and breadsticks!). Make sure you are incorporating fruits and vegetables every single day. Although it may be tempting, eating unhealthy will not make you feel good mentally or physically and can lead to more stress overall.
3. Sleep the most you can every night: It can be so difficult to manage your time in college, but it is the most important thing to do, so that you have time to sleep! Sleep is the most important aspect of your health. College students should be getting 8-9 hours of sleep each night. While this may not be realistic every night, especially if you are going out or if you have a lot of work to do, try to aim to get this amount of sleep 4-5 days each week. This article from Loyola University Maryland has great tips to maximize your sleep each night.
4. Stress management: My biggest tip for stress management is to make a schedule every Sunday for your upcoming week. You will have everything written down and you can see a visual list of everything you have to do for the upcoming week. This way you can see when you have time in between classes and school work to workout, hangout with friends, and anything else you want to do to fill your time. Each day you wake up, you will know exactly what you have to do for the day. If your stress gets to be too much, relaxation techniques are a must. Mediation and deep breathing can make a huge difference in your stress levels. You can also visit your school's website to learn about their counseling center (which has free appointments), if you need to talk to someone.
5. Surround yourself with great friends: This is so important. College is already stressful enough as it is with academics, so you do not need bad friends adding to that stress. You have four full years to meet as many people as you can, and you will certainly find the people who make you feel the best. If you are having a difficult time finding your place, there are countless clubs that you can join to meet people who have similar interests!
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