How to overcome stress, tiredness and homesickness at university

*I'm going to litter this post with nice pictures I took while I was exploring which really cheered me up!

In my last post, I talked about some of the struggles of starting university. Things that people don’t talk about but I definitely experienced in my first month at university. In week 4, I hit a real low and since then I’ve been trying lots of different things to try and turn how I’m feeling around. I thought I’d share them to see if I could help anyone else.

Tidy your room!

     It’s such a classic, but for a good reason. Tidying my room helps me clear my mind and feel a bit more on top of things in general. It also makes your personal space feel a bit nicer to be in.

Decorate! 

     While you’re in the tidying mood, get some cute decorations. I know fairy lights are a bit basic, but honestly photos, cute pillows and fairy lights really made me feel better when spending time in my room. Before going to university I thought, fuck it I’m only there a year. But it’s a tough year so anything that makes you enjoy spending time in your room is fab.

Blue skies and nice buildings = I am happy

EXPLORE!

     This is definitely the biggest one and has made such a difference to me. Until I decided to change, I was spending every day just walking to and from the university, only going into the city to go clubbing and spending the whole weekend hungover. But with my flat mates and some of the other girls, we have made a real effort to go out and explore the city. Whether that’s going to the union bar for a drink one evening a week, doing our work in coffee shops in the city, going to events in the city, trying out different, unique and independent restaurants or going shopping in the local market. Leeds is a lot bigger and more exciting than where I grew up so it’s been so good actually exploring the city we now live in. It’s also a good excuse to try something new when someone comes to visit. Every time my boyfriend visits, we go and try different restaurants, especially local Thai and Vietnamese places because they’re our fav!

Even if to you, exploring means just going to a different club each time, rather than going to Pryzm every Saturday, that’s good enough for me.

*Leeds Market

Actually go to your lectures! 

   

      I know this is a bit rouge and I’m not trying to preach about having to attend every single one, especially if you’re hanging out your ass. But, from experience and talking to others, once you start missing lectures there’s no going back. And I don’t know about anyone else but I feel a lot better by getting up and actually leaving the flat rather than spending the whole day in bed. Controversial.

Get a routine and STOP NAPPING!

      Now this is a hard one for me to write about and is very hypocritical. Despite not going out last night, didn’t get up till 12:45 today. Hopeless. And I nap at least every other day. So… this is more of a ‘working on it’ situ, but I’m trying to cut down on naps and get up at the sameish time each day. If you don’t have anything until 1, try at least getting out of bed at a reasonable time rather than lounging around till 11:45. I mean at the weekend, that might be a bit unrealistic but at least during the week or days when you haven’t gone out, try and get up and get on with it. Again, leaving the flat is always a good thing, I promise.

I hope some of these help and you go into the new semester with some new ideas and goals! If you have any other tips that we might find useful, leave a comment below because I'd love to hear it :)
Thank you for reading again and happy new year!

Laura x