Experience Sussex!

Prioritise what is important. Lots of responsibilities means lots of people relying on you - but what should always come first, is your own mental health and safety. There is no shame in declining an opportunity or communicating with someone that you need more time, space, or can’t follow through on a certain obligation. I find it useful if I have been behind on things to make a list of what is most urgent depending on how long I have left it or when the deadline was.  

Avoid making promises you can’t keep. It is very easy to convince yourself you are doing a good thing by holding yourself to certain expectations, but I find that when I do that, I end up disappointing people more often than not. Like most people, I find the disappointment of others quite anxiety inducing, so as an alternative I try to manage people’s expectations by giving them realistic deadlines, and keeping them updated if I run into any issues.  

My next strategy, unsurprisingly, is to communicate with people. As people move through tertiary education as well as the world of work it becomes incredibly important that we maintain good connections with people, to maximise the contacts we have and to keep working relationships going. Communicating effectively with people means you can worry less, because there is more trust in what your end result will be.  

To mitigate worrying, I find it incredibly important to factor in time for myself. That may mean lying in bed an extra ten minutes, saying no to a hangout so I get some extra time for myself, or spending time in nature. Going to university means you get the chance to know yourself even better, and finding what makes you feel best if you’re under stress is likely one of the most important ways you can take care of yourself at university or work.  

My last piece of advice is to do things that you love. I have a serious passion for museums, and it’s no mistake that much of my extracurriculars are related to that sector. The beginning of university was quite difficult for me, but I managed to change my perspective on it by choosing to spend the rest of time doing things that fill me up. Whether your degree is a major passion of yours, a choice you made as a split decision, or the most lucrative thing you could think of, it is not the be all and end all of how you should be spending your time at university and outside of it, you should pursue everything that interests you!