In the past I knew how to study, it was easy I would just lock myself up in my room. I’d tell my parents to stop me if I was just watching youtube videos, I’d spread out on the lounge room floor and study… Now I don’t have a lounge room floor.
Living away from home always has it’s issues, but personally studying for me really has been one of the harder things. It was easy in high school, my parents would help me stop procrastinating, I felt all special when they would tell me how proud they were that I was working hard. we’d go out for dinner when I finished an assignment. But when your living alone away from home… that isn’t really a thing, I don’t have money to waste on going out for dinner. and encouragement is far from the worst thing you have to deal with when studying ALONE…
Unfortunately for most of us moving out of home we now have domestic responsibilities, you cant stop doing you chores for a few days to hunker down. You’ve got dishes, vacuuming, dirty clothes and FEEDING YOURSELF. It makes it really hard to study when there are all these legitimate forms of procrastination, they are things that even if you are in “the zone” can’t be avoided.
(Obvious tip. buy yourself some easy meals if you can and takeaway is also good if your rich + no dishes)
And of course there is also the issue of location. In high school you were probably able to do most of it at school, or maybe you had your favorite armchair in the lounge or even a study. but now your somewhere new, and if you like me you don’t have a lounge or study. You have a room… and a bed. I personally an also someone who needs to move around when I’m studying so this kinda sucks for me. In any case here are some options for the struggling uni student.
- Your room (if you can bare it)
- If your accommodation has a study room go there
- Outside if thats an option
- Your Uni
- The local library
(Pro tip: If you feel stuck move.)
Another issue is loosing you god damn mind. If you are like me you may not have a roommate staying with you, or perhaps they are just a ghost, either way this means that if you really want to get in a full day of study you may have little to no human contact. I myself have gone days and it does slowly drive you crazy, and in my experience crazy actually means less study gets done. Here are some signs you need to go outside:
- You fear the sun
- Your sense of day and night is gone
- You are talking to yourself more than usual
- You actively seek out vlogs on youtube because it makes you feel less alone
- You stop eating
- You stop drinking
- You haven/t gotten out of your pajamas in 48 hours
- Your skin starts to turn white
- You look in the mirror and are horrifed
- The Idea of the outside is just too hard
- The statement “the voices in my head speak to me” isn’t quite as funny as it used to be
(Obvious tip: Go for w walk to the grocery store and have a conversation with the checkout guy, it wont take up too much time and its human contact soooo, yay!)