Why does everything have to happen all at once

[lokifish]

So I'm in week 10 of semester now at uni; I have assessments due virtually every day, been interviewing for summer jobs, trying (and failing) to study for exams, trying to support my boyfriend as his internship is now getting pretty intense... I've got my 21st coming up in a fortnight and we're moving house in amongst all this too. I don't know how the fuck to cope with it all. Just when I get to a point where I'm finally managing things okay another massive life event comes along and throws everything out of whack again. It feels like I'm not going to even be able to breathe until about the end of January, or ever... how do I be a productive adult in all of these areas without going insane?

[Bee]

@lokifish that does sound like a lot to be juggling at once.
My first question for you is this: Are you taking time out to breath and relax a little? Sometimes with a lot going on we can feel easily stressed if we're not taking the time to relax a little.

What can we do to help feel like you're managing everything?

[Mily]

Heya @lokifish, how are you going lately? Its a Saturday today, so I am just wondering if you will take time today to take a breather at all?

[DirtWitch]

Hi @lokifish, I'm also a uni student so I can definitely relate to how you feel. I study part-time, volunteer at three places and am also going through a depressive episode and it's so easy to think about how the things you have going on and feel completely overwhelmed and defeated by them.

Something I find that helps me is using the 5 minutes method to plan out my days. Basically, what you do is you have a calendar/planner and you also carry a list around with you. Whenever you remember you need to do something, you write it down on the list (I use my phone) and forget about it, just put it out of your mind. Then later when you get home, at the end of the day you take out your big calendar and plan out all the things you need to do. For example, if on your list you put down: buy groceries, study for exam, pack you can space things out in terms of urgency on different days. While it seems scary, I've found that actually writing things down take around 5 - 10 minutes and it lessens my anxiety knowing that I've scheduled time with that issue and I don't have to worry about when to do it anymore.

Of course, when you're feeling super overwhelmed I understand that something like that might take a lot of energy. During this time I think it's really important to just take the time throughout the day (just one to three minutes) to slowly breathe and soothe yourself. Studies have shown that when you regulate your breathing it actually does make you more calm! Take a few moments to just be completely present in the moment, sensing and hearing everything, so you can ground yourself and move on with your day. No matter what, you will be able to move past things and smile again.

[letitgo]

Hey @lokifish I often ask myself the exact same question. It would be so much easier if life spaced out events rather than throwing them at us all at once.

Please make sure you're scheduling some time for yourself in amongst this. Could you do some colouring or something, even for a few minutes, this weekend?

[scared01]

hi @lokifish how are you going?

[roseisnotaplant]

Hi Loki! I haven't seen you around in a while, just wanted to say hi How are you going @lokifish?

[redhead]

@lokifish how are you going