If you’re anything like me, the ability to balance hefty amounts of homework, and the expectations to maintain this and have the existence of leisure time, seems entirely impossible. The thing is, students these days have expectation after expectation, with the majority of this being dedication to school work.
Being a high dreamer and achiever, I have had a love, hate relationship with this idea of balancing such important aspects of life as a student in contemporary society. Amongst many, during my GCSE’s, and more honestly, throughout the entirety of year eleven, I contained restricted leisure time as a result of my continuous work ethic. This work ethic, tragically, being of a more unhealthy nature, my anxiety as a motive for this work. And so, my academic work in the form of constant note taking, homework, and revision dominated this much needed leisure time.
As easy as it is to say, ‘just stop working and go out with friends’, this is, and let me tell you, a definite hardship when it comes to the reality of these high achieving students.
Luckily, with the help of counselling and group therapy, this anxiety was different the time sixth form came around. At times I feel the balance is a little off for me, but the majority of times, I believe myself to value this balance between allocated time for, of course, educational work, and the capability of a social life and hobbies.
Social life/work balance Questionnaire
This balance, however, is different for everyone, and hence I felt the need to gain more insight into my peers, and their attitude to such lifestyle. Using a self-written questionnaire, I asked each individually of their experiences, (two girls, two boys), and their advice to other students struggling.
The Findings
The Girls
Following the questionnaire, many of the students described their social life and work balance to be of a bad standard, with both girls arguing this be due to their priority of their job and going out with friends, often rushing work. Interestingly, one of the girls also described the extremity of both sides of such spectrum, explaining if the work load be too much, that she doesn’t go out at all. When questioned about how they maintain such a balance, one of the female students specified the power of setting specific time limits for work, for example timed essays, and making sure to organise socialising and leisure around work time.
The boys
Interestingly, the boys seemed as though highly inclined to make sure they do an hour a day, if that. One of them saying he only does ‘one hour a week, that’s all’.
Their arguments to ensure that you spend enough time working, rather than leisure activities like football or xbox, was to either force yourself, or if you don’t do enough socialising, to make sure you do the necessary work, not too much.
All students made sure to do homework in their frees, however tempting a cheeky gossip may be with your friends, it’s much more practical in that you have more relaxation time at home- and trust me, during A-levels, relaxation is a must!
It’s very important to get this balance right, as to not, may jeopardise your path to success, as well as your mental health. Newspaper after newspaper, the media is constantly revealing evidence of the pressure of exams and revision as causing worrying levels of anxiety in students. Suzie Hayman, spokesperson for Family Lives, said exams may cause “conflict in families [and] crises of confidence in young people about being able to manage”. (http://www.mentalhealthy.co.uk/news/321-pressure-of-exams-causing-worrying-levels-of-anxiety-in-students.html)
To conclude- stay safe/ keep this healthy balance/ have a happy mind! And if you don’t feel that you have any of the above, speak out and get help now, or simply attempt to change your work/social balance lifestyle.
Palpitation 