Participating in activities is one of the best parts of campus life, but it can be easy to put too much on your plate. A good way to see how many activities you can handle is to make a clear schedule with time blocks. Put your classes in, study time, time to eat meals and then see when you have availability. 

When you take on too many activities, you can often lose time for yourself! Making clear times for simple acts of self-care or studying will help ensure your plate doesn’t get too full. 

Next, once you know what time you can handle activities, you need to pick priorities and slowly start adding activities to them. If you’re an athlete, you’ll most likely put that first!  You may then decide to join Greek life, speech and debate or a club. As you update your schedule, ensure you still have the times you set aside for yourself! 

Once you get into some activities and your schedule slowly starts to fill up, take a step back and evaluate how you feel. If you feel overwhelmed or like you’re falling behind, it may be time to step away from some activities. There’s nothing wrong with making this decision. This is why you make your priority list, so you can ensure that your main focus is on having fun! Fun is the whole point of activities! 

Once an activity starts feeling like a chore, you’ll want to reevaluate what you spend your time on. If going to speech and debate begins to feel like an obligation, that’s when you take a step back. If soccer turns into a chore, you take a step back. If being in Greek life is just another activity you have to do, take a step back. Clubs and activities are meant to enhance the college experience, not take away from it. Your activities shouldn’t feel like a burden.

 You need to come first, not your activities. You are enough without a mile-long list of activities! Do activities because you want to! Not just so you can say you did. Try new things, but as soon as you’re not getting what you want out of it, leave. 

Try new activities, but make sure you have time for yourself. The moment it stops adding to your joy and starts to take away from it is the moment you have taken on too much. Never be afraid to say no; you won’t disappoint anyone by putting yourself first.

Best,

Millie