Set Yourself Up for a Mentally Healthy and Resilient School Year
As the school year approaches, with thoughts of new classes, fresh Google docs, and a roster of after-school activities, take a moment to consider how you’ll support your mental health. It’s impossible to predict precisely how the year will unfold, but it’s likely that there will be days with overlapping deadlines, unexpected quizzes, miscommunication with friends, and other stressors. Having the tools to help you weather those moments will make all the difference.
Resilience, or the ability to adapt to challenges both expected and surprising, is key to maintaining your mental health during challenging times. Although some people appear quite resilient, dealing readily with setbacks, the reality is that resilience is a learned skill. By developing coping skills and finding the strength to ask for help, you can build your resilience.
In addition to stocking up on supplies, take a moment to set yourself up for a mentally healthy and resilient school year with these meaningful and practical strategies.
Form Connections
When you form and foster relationships, you’ll gain both practical and emotional benefits.
Having close friends at school will allow you to develop a sense of belonging and help you realize that others have similar experiences. You’ll have someone to talk to about everything from crushes to crushing deadlines, and someone will be on hand to offer support, advice, or a favor.
You can start to build a relationship by greeting a person you sit near in class, and asking how their weekend was. But you can also consider volunteering, participating in after-school activities, or joining hobby-related groups as a means to build relationships and friendships.
Prioritize Self-Care — and Sleep
When you have a lot of things to do, taking time for yourself and the things that bring you joy often falls to the bottom of your to-do list. That’s true for catching z’s as well.
But both self-care and sleep are key to your well-being. When you take time for self-care, you’ll boost your energy and reduce your chances of getting sick, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Bonus: Taking time for self-care helps keep stress in check. Sleep is also a key ingredient for your mood, health, and overall well-being.
Aim to get at least seven hours of sleep each night and practice good sleep hygiene. That means turning off electronics at least 30 minutes before bedtime, keeping your bedroom quiet and cool, going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, and more.
Build time for self-care into your daily routine. What exactly does it look like to prioritize self-care? Take time for things you love to do, and also build in time for exercise. And it can be meaningful to engage in reflective activities, such as journaling or meditating.
Create a Schedule
Workloads in high school and college are demanding, so you may find yourself with lots of challenging tasks on your to-do list. Keep yourself on track and set reasonable, achievable goals for each day. That way, you’ll write a 10-page paper over several days, and not in a single all-night haze. That will cut down on stress and anxiety. Some tools that can help include:
- A calendar: Make sure your deadlines are clearly noted, and include the times of your non-school activities as well.
- A project management system: Most project management systems, such as Asana, Notion, and Trello, have a free tier, which you can use to break big projects into smaller tasks and assign them each deadlines.
- A daily to-do list: If a project management system seems overly involved, instead consider writing down three essential tasks to complete each day.
Carve Out a Work-Free Space
Try to find one space, whether it’s the weight room in the gym, the early morning stillness of a yoga studio, or the enveloping comforts of your bed, where you let your mind focus on things other than stressors and your to-do list. Bonus points if that space is free from phones.
Have a Growth Mindset
Instead of defaulting to a fixed mindset, opt for a growth mindset — the belief that one’s abilities can grow through effort. With this belief system, you’ll open yourself up to learning and consider abilities and skills something you can develop. With a growth mindset, you’ll think in terms of all the knowledge you can gain and skills you can sharpen with practice. Embracing a growth mindset will help you consider a poor grade a setback as opposed to confirmation that you’re not skilled at a subject, giving you an opening to try new strategies to strengthen your knowledge of the topic.
Cut Yourself Some Slack
The reality is that you won’t be able to implement all of these strategies on Day 1 of the new school year, and you won’t always be able to plan ahead. Life happens, and sometimes you won’t get to that paper until the night before it’s due. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Part of building resilience involves learning how to accept setbacks and move forward.
Bottom Line
During a successful school year, you’ll learn a lot — but you’ll also form deep and important relationships, take time for yourself, and become nimble at balancing all of the items on your to-do list. By prepping beforehand, you’ll have the tools and mindset to navigate difficult moments whenever they may arise.
If you find that your setbacks are overwhelming, know that you can always reach out for help. Look to counselors at your school, a therapist, or friends and family who you can lean on to help get you through a difficult time. You can also check out JED’s Mental Health Resource Center for strategies on how to better manage your mental health.
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