Which type of work should come first: Balancing school and my job 

Life is a delicate balance. We are constantly shifting from task to task, trying to make sure we are giving our best to everything and never wanting to sacrifice things we enjoy. 

I feel that this is the epitome of society: grasping towards constant achievements, never wanting to do less. 

Granted, it seems pretty valid; however, sometimes too much can lead to outcomes where, frankly, doing less could have provided a greater outcome. 

When it comes to trying to manage the perfect balance, the most difficult aspect that the majority of us college students face is our relationship between school and work. 

Whether it’s part-time work at a coffee shop, a paid internship or a simple on-campus job, there are still a number of hours we all seek to achieve, a pay that we desperately hope for, with a schedule that seems to never allow for any of it. 

It seems simple at first, especially if you worked during high school, that a job would be easy to keep up with, but truly, college expands the workloads of so many. 

When you’re not prepared, you get stuck in a cycle of suffering, trying to keep up in both parades. 

Obviously, as college students, we all need some sort of income. 

My first semester in college, I searched desperately for a job that would be able to be flexible with my school schedule. 

As a first-year interior design major, we were constantly getting new projects, never knowing how long we’d be staying in the studio. 

Luckily, I was able to find a job on campus, and though I am forever grateful for my position at Student Publications, there is still some trickiness with trying to balance it with school. 

Every now and then, one of my forms of work exceeds the other–whether I get more homework compared to a typical week or I take up more assignments for the newspaper than usual. 

When this imbalance starts to occur, I slowly start to see all my work ethic shrivel away as stress begins to fill me. 

In these moments, it’s essential to collect your thoughts and realize that things will ultimately work out. 

Personally, I tend to do the exact opposite and overdramatize my situation, feeling that my life is coming to a ruin. 

It’s easy to let your thoughts spiral when things aren’t going perfectly in order, and this, my friends, is where we need to start being more intentional about how we’re handling this balance. 

Of course, our life consists of more than just college and our career; we have social lives, we have hobbies, extracurriculars, habits and routines in our day-to-day life. 

It’s when looking at these things as a whole that we must be willing to start making sacrifices. 

They don’t always need to be permanent but not everything can stay all the time. 

Sometimes, you have to accept the “B” on the assignment, you may have to say no to the brunch with your friends and sometimes you have to stay in on the weekends to study. 

Though these ideas seem absurd at certain points in our lives, it’s all a part of the initial balance. 

When we put too much pressure on trying to do everything and doing it perfectly, we harm our health mentally and physically. Our bodies need rest; we weren’t created to perform 24/7 and our minds weren’t meant to carry so much pressure. 

I’m not saying quit your job and I’m not saying to stop trying in class. Jobs play a crucial role in our lives individually and in society as a whole, along with education, which we seek earnestly for our future careers. 

What I am saying is to give yourself a break. What you’re doing is hard and I’m proud of you for doing so but make sure you are allowing yourself to receive rest. 

Be consistent in your routine, give your all on the tests, display a sense of grit in your work field, but most importantly, take care of yourself. 

Last year, specifically, I bit off more than I could chew between work and school. Every night, I was getting no more than four hours of sleep, I wasn’t eating three meals a day and I was mentally drained. 

Striving for the 4.0 GPA while also trying to climb the ladder at work ultimately caused me to suffer incredibly. It’s not easy to do both but it can be done as long as we take care of ourselves. We must be willing to say “No,” so we can focus on our main priorities. It will suck in the moment but it will be worth it in the end. 

Don’t quit, you are capable of successfully managing all parts of your life, but achieving this balance might look different than what you imagined.