College students are constantly reminded of how important it is to keep academics as a priority, but taking time to take care of yourself and what’s important to you is just as significant, although often overlooked.

Stress is no stranger to college students, even when exclusively considering anything school-related. When you factor in the additional weight of work and a social life, it can be argued that many college students can sometimes lose sight of the importance of their health and emotional stability.

For some students, a normal day consists of waking up early and staying busy around campus all day until they finally get home; however, for many students, leaving campus doesn’t signify the end of the day. It is common for students to go to class all day and work nights immediately after. In this case, students are often forced to use the little downtime they have to study or do other schoolwork when they should be relaxing or recharging. Although students in similar situations don’t have much say in how much downtime they have, they should still be conscious of how they spend it.

Overworking yourself is never a good thing. Although this statement is surely an obvious one, it can be difficult to make the changes needed to avoid becoming overworked. By the time the day is over, overworked college students often find themselves wanting to do nothing more than end the day and get some well-deserved sleep. Although sleep is essential to staying physically and emotionally healthy, it is important to remember that your time in college is precious and should be spent as wisely as possible.

Time passes by quickly in college, but that doesn’t mean that you should just go with the flow and sleep your stress away. When you constantly push yourself to get through each week or even each day of the semester, the last thing you might want to think about is how you should push yourself to do even more; however, college students have shown to be excellent at pushing themselves towards the things they know will benefit them in the end.

With that being said, college students need to keep in mind that excelling academically isn’t the only thing that students should focus on. As we prepare to become real-world adults, we need to understand that we don’t have to lose parts of ourselves in the journey of higher education. Many times, our dedication to schoolwork causes us to sacrifice time with the people we love, and even ourselves personally. Although this is by no means a selfish decision to make, it has to potential to turn into a foolish one.

It’s okay to skip out on a few nights out with your friends because you have that big midterm coming up. It’s okay to get off track at the gym because you know you should be at the library instead. It’s okay to go against the urge to binge watch your favorite show all night because you know you have a paper to finish by tomorrow; however, when you start to neglect your relationships, health and hobbies, you might start to lose some aspects that would otherwise help you get through those stressful times. When you lose focus of the other things that are important to you outside of academics, you might find yourself struggling even more.

Don’t put what’s important to you on the back burner while you focus on your education. Instead, use those aspects to enhance and fuel your success. Don’t lose sight of the important people in your life because you’re too busy for them. Making time for them will not only show them that you are making an effort to keep them in your life, but you’ll probably find that the people you love can be the biggest stress relievers. Don’t give up on your health kick because you think you would benefit better from a nap than going to the gym. You might think that you are making a decision to use your time better by catching up on sleep, but your body will thank you so much more by partaking in your favorite hobby rather than sleeping the stress away. Even taking time out of your day to treat yourself to a couple episodes of your favorite show can be a good use of time by knowing when to reward yourself for all your hard work. Taking some time out to treat yourself to a few episodes of your favorite show every once in a while should even be considered necessary in moderation because we all need to be rewarded for our hard work every once in a while.

You shouldn’t have to give up what’s most important to you in life to succeed at something else. In fact, you might find that aspects such as relationships, health and hobbies are what makes the stressful weeks worthwhile and easier to get through if you are able to manage your time right.