Welcome Back to Season Two

Apparently we’ve done the hard bit. We’ve jumped right into the deep end of making friends, learning online and in-person, scraping by on our student loans to learn how to survive. But, after packing up the Christmas tree and boxing away the Rudolph decorations after a relaxing few weeks at home, returning back to university may not seem all too pleasing.

Without all the festive glam, the doom and gloom of the early winter months can really start to hit. A lot of people can start off with the mentality of being super duper productive as soon as you start unpacking in your dorm. Whilst this can be great and motivitating, it’s also important to be aware of it leading to toxic productivity. You might try to get through these months by cracking down to focus on your work, but there are many other things you can do to help you through. Balance is key. Starting off the New Year can set off a host of what seems like amazing resolutions and expectations for what is to come, but, as we have learnt over the past two years, nothing is easy to predict. When putting a lot of pressure on yourself to work x amount of hours, or other goals, it’s important to be conscious of what’s realistic and attainable, whilst ensuring you see the bigger picture and look after yourself. 

It’s hard to navigate a balance in the goals you set for this year, especially in these next few months. Lowering your goals could potentially make you less-motivated or inspired for the near or far future, but, at the same time, making them too high could mean you get easily distracted and hopeless. Of course, looking after your mental health is crucial, and I’d recommend implementing things like taking a walk, exercising, catching up with friends any day. However, in the current climate of a seemingly endless pandemic carrying on like the episodes of ‘Antiques RoadShow’ on BBC 1, these little things may not be working the wonders like they used to do.  

So, in order to have a balanced motivation for university, I think it’s really important to invest some time into your other interests and explore new things. In the first year of university especially, it’s great to go and try out new stuff. This helps with your academic work and social life through opening doors to things you may not have had the opportunity to do or learn about before. 

Of course, having probably had an overwhelming amount of activities during freshers and the first semester, this can all be a bit draining. Whilst you don’t have to be out joining every society under the sun, it’d still recommend doing things which push your comfort zone. This can be anything from taking a spontaneous day trip on a Saturday to a nearby town to reading a different genre of book.

Author

Anisha Minocha is studying English and Philosophy at the University of St Andrews. She is a passionate writer and poet whose work has been published in anthologies, magazines, blogs and won competitions. Contributing to Sink Magazine, she is keen to utilize the voice of young people and share work through her creative writing blog.  As a climate activist, she has combined her love for words and the planet in a performance of spoken word at the Royal Exchange Theatre in 'Letters to the Earth'. She also co-runs Young Friends of the Earth: Manchester and has organised workshops, participated in panels and spoken at Manchester Cathedral. ​