It’s the end of the semester and it’s safe to say that anyone in grad school is likely feeling overwhelmed right now. So I am not about to take up too much of your time with this post, just some quick tips on how to feel a little less overwhelmed during this busy season.

If you haven’t already heard about the #GradSchoolFeels series,  head over to YouTube and check out the video now!

This series discusses some of the typical feelings grad students face. These might include; anxiety, depression, feeling like an imposter, feeling lonely… the list goes on.

The idea behind this is to:

1. raise awareness about mental health for grad students,
2. for grad students to feel more open talking about their feelings with themselves, friends, colleagues, family members or professionals and
3. to create free mediations and tips to help ya out when you are facing these feelings.

This month feel is:

Feeling overwhelmed

You can find the guided meditation for this feeling here.

But if meditation isn’t your thing, don’t worry. I have gathered a few other tips to cope with this feeling.

Tip 1: Make a list 

If you are making a list of what you need to get done in your mind, put it on paper. The amount of times you repeat this list in your head is likely wasting precious brain power. This list doesn’t need to take a lot of time, just get a scrap paper, and whenever something comes to your mind, put it on paper so you can move on.

Tip 2: Call your loved ones

Call colleagues, friends or family. Complain. Let it out. Whenever I talked to loved ones, it usually helps put things into perspective. And make sure to thank them for listening.

Tip 3: Turn off all notifications 

Immediately after you give them a call, turn off your phone (I know this won’t be possible for everyone but for those who can, I really recommend it). Turn off your e-mail notifications on your computer, and any other distractions. Try this out for an hour and see how much you can get done. If it works – try for another hour and so on.

Tip 4: Don’t multi-task

You might have a lot going on but multi-tasking isn’t helping. Focus on one task at hand and get into deep work – think quality over quantity.

Tip 5: Make sure you are sleeping

This is a hard one. Sleep is difficult to come by when you are overwhelmed…sometimes you just don’t have enough time to get a good sleep and other times its because you can’t sleep. But this rest is so important to get good work done. Try and prioritize it as best as you can. And if that means naps, don’t feel guilty – they help!

Tip 6: Have 1 glass of wine 

I’m just trying to be realistic here. Sometimes theres no time to fit anything in and having a small ‘reward’ at the end of the day helps me in really busy times. I like to end my last hour with a glass of wine to help me relax before passing out. But notice I said one glass and not the whole bottle 😉

Now I want to hear from you!

• How do you cope with feeling overwhelmed?
• Have any of these tricks ever work for you?
• And what do you think about the #GradSchoolFeels series?
• Are there any particular feelings you want me to feature in the coming months?

Comment below! And stay tuned for next month’s #GradSchoolFeels.

Until next time,

P.S Don’t forget to use #ScholarCulture #ScholarSquad #ScholarSunday to keep me updated on your experiences as grad students.

P.P.S Applying to grad school for the 2019/20 school year? Check out this FREE eBook on 5 steps to a successful grad school application. Are you in grad school and struggling to find easy lunches to bring to campus? Check out three FREE recipes and full nutritional information here.