Written by: Anonymous
The 2021 fall semester was my very first experience at university. As a first year student, the new university environment was an overwhelming but enjoyable experience. Throughout the semester, there were most definitely fluctuations with my mental health, and understanding these fluctuations early in the semester allowed me to adjust and develop coping strategies and resources to assist me throughout the semester. I will be sharing these methods and experiences anonymously to help incoming or current Queen’s students. I will be separating my mental health experience into 3 sections, academics, food & lifestyle, and social life.
Firstly, in the scope of academics, when individuals discuss stress and mental health they often link school and academics as the leading cause. Personally, it definitely is a contributing factor to stress and a weight on my mental health. However, I view it as temporary. There are high stress periods of time, such as before midterm and final exams, however, I found that having well established study routines and a supportive group of friends was helpful in minimizing detrimental mental health impacts from academics. I’m sure that you have heard the usual tips of using weekly planners, finding studying locations, using course resources, and studying in groups. Personally, during the most stressful periods of time I would spread out studying throughout the day and allot time for collaborative and independent studying. One particular time before final exams I was feeling extremely anxious and it felt as if there was a never ending to-do list, and the fear of not performing well on the exams and wasting all the effort from the semester. During these times, I feel the most home-sick and calling my family was comforting but emotional as well. I believe that engaging with what makes you feel at home and safe is a great way to destress and reset the mind, especially when it feels like it is failing you.
Next I will be discussing the lifestyle impacts on my mental health, and why I believe that this was the most important factor. I mentioned before that the mental health impacts associated with academics were temporary. However, lifestyle habits are long term. Nutrition, exercise, sleeping schedule and experiences with mindful breathing are what I will be sharing. Firstly, coming to university and having a meal plan, my eating habits had to adjust to the food being given to me. SinceI struggled with eating disorders, sudden changes to food were difficult. It was important for me to dedicate time to get food and I found the nutritional information across Queen’s dining services a useful tool. My overall goal was to get 3 meals everyday, however, throughout the last semester my sleeping schedule would cause me to wake up late and skip breakfast daily. I found that sleeping and waking up late had negative affects on my lifestyle habits which reflected on my mental health. Overall, I had less energy and motivation and felt anxious from running out of time during the day. In November, I began setting a goal of sleeping before midnight and waking up before 9:30 to go to gym. Setting a destination in the morning motivated me to wake up and remain dedicated to this goal. Not to mention, allotting time for exercise was extremely beneficial for my mental health and helped me fall asleep at night.
Finally, I will be discussing the social components of university and how important it is for our mental health. As an incoming student to a new environment it is very easy to feel lonely and not having made enough connections and friendships. It is important to balance social life and academic life to prevent burnout and maintain joy throughout stressful times. Not to mention, studying in groups can be extremely motivating and beneficial. I believe that social media has been a great method of meeting new people, however, at certain times it is difficult to take the leap of meeting people from social media in person. Overall, I am an extremely social individual that loves to meet new people and be surrounded with people at all times. On the outside, this may seem like a great character trait, it makes me prone to loneliness because I get anxious about the idea of independence. As a result, the feeling of missing out (FOMO) is a large component to my social decisions. A majority of the time I felt supported with friends, however, at some times it felt like the connections that I made were not enough or not strong enough. At the moment, I don’t have a solution to this because making connections and friendships takes time, patience, and trust.
QWOCC 